Timeline
by steamboat
Summary: Why's Nigel been abducted? What needs to be done before he can go home? What's Preston got to do with it? Will Nigel ever be truly happy and marry Sydney? This is a sort of sequel to "Nigel from the Beginning" but can be read before or after that story. PLEASE REVIEW EVEN IN 2014. THANKS!
1. Chapter 1

**_I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows. I am making no money from this story, it is purely for fun, so please don't sue me!_**

**This story is not just based on the characters from the "Relic Hunter" TV show, but also on my interpretation of the characters outlined in my other fanfic "Nigel from the Beginning". In that story Nigel was brought up by his older brother, Preston, following the death of their parents; when Nigel was 12 and Preston was 19. Preston was a disciplinarian who sent Nigel (whom he refers to as Podge) to a boarding school where he was bullied and beaten (he did actually mention this in the show). Preston got involved in the seedier side of things while Nigel was out of the way, which was why he left Nigel at a school that he detested. In Preston's mind he was ensuring that Nigel was not exposed to anything distasteful, as he wanted Nigel to stay innocent for as long as possible, as their parents, he believed, would have wanted. Nigel attended Oxford University when he was 15 but Preston was still in charge of him until he left home a few months after his 20th birthday. Preston treated Nigel appallingly, even though, deep down, he loved him. Nigel was frightened of him and disliked him intensely for a long time. Following some anger management classes and some counselling by a psychologist, Preston felt terribly guilty for what he'd put Nigel through and eventually they reconciled after they'd been on a couple of relic hunts together. This story happens after all that and I refer to it in Timeline.**

**Everything you read here in chapter one is very significant!**

**Timeline **

**CHAPTER ONE**

Nigel Bailey, Professor Sydney Fox's young teaching assistant, was sitting at his desk marking midterm papers at Trinity College. He was finding the job more difficult than usual as he was feeling particularly unwell and had felt that way for the past few days. It was hard for him to concentrate feeling as he did, but he and Sydney had spent so much time away from the college lately, on relic hunts, he felt duty bound to complete the task. He considered that once the papers were graded he could go home and sleep; he'd done precious little of that in the last month or so. He hadn't complained to Sydney about how unwell he felt, realising that she'd just send him home and end up doing the work herself, making him feel guilty.

There must have been about six more papers to grade when Sydney suddenly rushed out of her office and told Nigel that she'd just had a call from Harry Platt, a friend of hers from Las Vegas. She explained that Harry had found some ancient manuscripts which had clues that could lead to the whereabouts of a massive underground cavern in the Grand Canyon, where the Hopi Indian tribe once lived. She went on to say that the Hopi's have been trying to locate that sacred cavern for about two hundred years, but now, with these manuscripts, Harry believes it could be found.

"Nigel, Harry thinks there will probably be hundreds of Hopi relics down there, that either the tribe themselves will want, or that we can donate to the Heard Museum, in Phoenix. Won't it be an amazing find Nige?"Sydney asked, as she picked up a few books off a shelf and placed them on Nigel's desk. She was so caught up in thinking about this new hunt that she hadn't even noticed that her assistant was sitting there looking quite upset.

"Syd, I'm exhausted, we only came back from those hunts in England four days ago; do we really need to go on another one so soon?" Nigel asked; looking quite pained "that cavern has been there for millions of years, another week or so won't matter!"

"Nigel, you know how quickly rival relic hunters find out about new hunts, and you have to admit… it would be great to give the lost relics back to the Hopi's, or even that museum. The Heard Museum is an amazing place, but they always need extra artefacts to attract more visitors"Sydney said, hoping that comment would convince Nigel to become more enthusiastic.

"Syd, I'm not feeling well, I was going to finish up here and ask if you'd mind if I went home, I don't have the stamina that you have and besides, you won't need me, Harry is perfectly capable of going with you, he's an archaeologist and a relic hunter. It's not like you're going to need me to read any glyphs or the like. Can I stay behind this time… please?" Nigel said, giving Sydney a look that would normally evoke sympathy from her.

"You never said a word about not feeling well until I asked you to come on this hunt Nigel! I think you just want to stay here so that you can meet up with Cate again! Yes I know she's back, so don't give me that look. Nige, you know she thinks you're too young for her; you'll just get your heart broken again if you keep seeing her! How many times has that happened now? Three, or is it four? She comes into your life, you get close and then you don't hear from her for months! I have to watch you breaking your heart time and time again; well I'm telling you now Nigel, no more, you're coming on this hunt, like it or not!"Sydney yelled, wagging her finger at Nigel, who was looking up at her with a very hurt expression on his face.

"Cate's back in town?" he said, looking down, sadly "I didn't know Syd. I, I don't want to go through that again either…. she, she hasn't contacted me anyway" he said, looking up at Sydney, hoping she'd realise he was telling the truth, as Cate Hemphill, who was an Interpol Agent and a friend to both of them, hadn't actually contacted him this time, which really upset him, as she'd apparently contacted Sydney!

"Nige, you're always the first person she contacts when she's in Boston, so don't give me that innocent look!"

"Syd, she didn't ring me… um, when did you get to know she was here anyway?" Nigel asked, hoping Sydney had a reasonable explanation for not telling him Cate was coming to town; although he supposed what she'd just said qualified for that.

"She rang me two days ago; I was waiting for you to tell me you're going to go out with her again!"Sydney said, looking closely at Nigel to judge his reaction.

"I haven't spoken to her, I really don't feel well; that's why I don't want to go to Las Vegas, not because of Cate" he said, thinking I wonder why she didn't call me.

"Nige, you do look tired but I don't believe you're sick, so don't go using that as an excuse to stay here. Even if the hunt doesn't interest you, it interests me, so you're coming, am I being clear!" Sydney said; looking at him, realising he was quite unhappy.

"Yes Syd, alright, but I need to go home and get my rucksack first" he said, looking at her like a scolded child.

"Come on Nigel, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you, I'll meet you at the airport at six, OK, I'll be at the usual place" she said, feeling a bit guilty.

"If I have to" he said, shrugging his shoulders and tossing the papers he'd not yet graded to one side. He put on his coat and cycling helmet and left without saying another word.

The airport was crowded but Sydney and Nigel almost always met by the 'Boston Store' so they couldn't miss each other. By twenty past six Sydney was still alone; she was getting annoyed as she thought Nigel was making her wait deliberately. She kept looking at her watch and then around the airport, but there was no sign of him. By seven she'd called his cell phone five times, but it was switched off, she was furious; he'd never done anything like this before. She thought she'd give him ten more minutes; then she'd have no choice but to leave without him and he'd be in big trouble when she got back!

She actually waited fifteen minutes but then she heard the last call for the Vegas flight over the tannoy system, so she could wait no longer.

When she arrived in Las Vegas Harry was, unfortunately, not there to meet her. Damn, she thought, am I going to be stood up by everyone! She called Harry's cell but got no reply. Luckily Harry had told her when he rang that he was staying at the Mirage, on the Strip, so she took a taxi there. Upon quizzing the receptionist she was advised that there was no Mr Platt staying there and, having checked the records for the past week, there'd been no guests with that name. Sydney was confused; she thought she knew Harry's voice, she was sure it was him that rang her …. or was it? It was too late now to do anything about it, so she just checked in for the night.

Nigel had had every intention of meeting Sydney at the airport but he never made it past his front door!

He awoke, what he assumed was the next day, and had no idea where he was; all he knew was he felt awful. The room was completely dark, which made him realise he wasn't in his own apartment. Had he been at home the lights from the city would be shining through his window, but there was nothing but blackness, apart from some tiny blue flashing lights, just in front of him. Nigel called out "hello, is there anybody there!"

Suddenly a door opened, letting in a little light and a woman's voice spoke very calmly and gently "it's alright Nigel; don't be frightened, you've not been well and I've been looking after you."

"What's the matter with me, where am I?" Nigel asked; feeling just dreadful.

Nigel felt her put something on his arm and in a rather motherly tone he heard her say "go back to sleep sweetie, you'll feel better in the morning and we can talk then."

Nigel was about to speak again, when he fell fast asleep.

When Nigel woke up he had no idea how long he'd been asleep, although he felt quite a lot better than the day before, or whenever that was, and was grateful for that. The room was no longer pitch black but very bright, ultra modern and rather strange looking. He didn't recognise any of the machines or other bits of technology that surrounded him, but he guessed he must be in a hospital, although there were no other patients that he could see.

A few minutes after he woke up a woman in her mid fifties, with red hair just below the shoulders, walked in wearing a blue coat over what looked like her regular clothes. Nigel thought she looked very kind and must be a doctor.

"Hello Nigel, my name's Beverly Crusher, how are you feeling sweetie?" she said smiling at him.

"I'm, um, I'm feeling a lot better now. Who did you say you are?" he asked.

"Beverly Crusher, I'm a doctor; would you like a glass of water?" she asked, looking at him the same way a mother would look at her young child.

"Yes please, um, what hospital is this? And what's wrong with me doctor?" Nigel asked, nervously, thinking he must be seriously ill if he was in a hospital such as this.

"Nigel, you'll be fine, everything will be revealed to you in a little while, just drink this and I'll go and get the captain, he asked to see you the moment you woke up" Beverly said, handing Nigel a glass before walking towards the door.

"The captain? What captain?" Nigel said, wondering where on earth he was.

"I'll be back in a minute sweetie, don't get out of bed, or you'll feel sick" the doctor said, as she left the room.

Nigel, being his usual inquisitive self, was about to get up to look around when a feeling of nausea came over him, forcing him to lay back down. About five minutes later Beverly walked back in with a bald headed man wearing a maroon coloured top and black trousers. His outfit looked like a uniform, but it was not one that Nigel recognised.

"This is Captain Jean Luc Picard" Beverly said to Nigel, as she wiped the hair out of her young patient's eyes.

"Very pleased to meet you Nigel" the captain said "how are you feeling?"

Nigel gave him a nod and said "I'm OK, I suppose Sir; I felt a bit sick just now though when I tried to get up. Um, please Sir, will you tell me where I am, does Sydney know I'm here?" he asked, thinking I hope she comes to see me soon.

"Nigel you are in sickbay, on the Enterprise, I'm the captain. I just wanted to check that you're alright. Now I want you to stay in that bed and go back to sleep until Doctor Crusher tells you that you're well enough to get up. If you go outside that door you'll be in big trouble young man" Jean Luc said, firmly. Nigel didn't like the captain's tone and began to feel nervous but he didn't want to wait any longer for an explanation.

"The Enterprise? Is it a ship? Please tell me why I'm here? Nigel asked, in a slightly raised, yet high pitched voice; he often sounded like that when he was nervous or annoyed.

"Look Nigel, I want to hold back on answering those questions until you're completely well. The doctor here keeps reminding me that you're quite young and you need special consideration before I explain things to you" Jean Luc said, feeling a little niggled because he was used to being immediately obeyed.

Nigel realised that he couldn't remember anything past the point of arriving at his apartment, yesterday, or whenever that was? He remembered thinking he'd better get a couple of new batteries for his torch and some protein bars for the hunt in the Grand Canyon, but that's all he could recall; after that everything was blank.

"Please Sir, tell me now!" Nigel shouted, feeling rather alarmed and bowing his head when he saw the annoyed expression the captain was giving him.

"Go to sleep Nigel!" the captain said quite crossly, and walked away.

**I KNOW I HAVE GIVEN VERY LITTLE AWAY HERE BUT WHEN YOU READ FURTHER CHAPTERS YOU WILL BE VERY SURPRISED AT WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN ON EARTH, in 2003, WHILE NIGEL IS ON THE ENTERPRISE IN THE 24TH CENTURY! **

**PLEASE REVIEW - I would like to know if you are interested, a nice review would show you are and would be very much appreciated. TIMELINE DOES HAVE A VERY HAPPY ENDING TOO, ONE WHICH I'M SURE YOU WILL LOVE! OH IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING, TIMELINE IS NOWHERE NEAR AS LONG AS MY OTHER FANFIC!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.**_

_**Information - DATA does not shorten his words and neither does WORF. **_

**CHAPTER TWO**

Back in Las Vegas Sydney was trying to contact Harry Platt and eventually did, after a couple of days. She managed to locate him via some mutual friends and, to Sydney's astonishment; he told her he'd never made that call and knew nothing about a cavern full of Hopi relics! He explained he'd been in France for the past couple of months and had only been back in Las Vegas a few days. Sydney was very confused as she'd no idea why anyone would have pretended to be him, unless they wanted her in Vegas for some reason and knew she'd do anything to help Harry. She decided, therefore, to stay for a couple more days to see if anyone she knew turned up.

She was still a little annoyed with Nigel, especially when he didn't have the decency to call her to apologise for standing her up. She, therefore, decided not to call him to explain the situation; believing he was probably regretting his actions now. She considered that his punishment for his act of defiance would be to let him agonize over what she'd say or do to him when she got home!

After a few days, despite keeping a high profile, nobody approached her regarding a relic hunt or with an explanation as to why she'd got that call, therefore, realising she was spending too much time away from the college, she had no choice but to go home empty handed.

While flying home to Boston she mulled it over in her mind and came to the conclusion that this little 'adventure' must have been some sort of practical joke, most likely set up by one of her students.

As soon as her plane landed she made her way Trinity College where she intended to see Nigel and give him a gentle lecture about his non attendance and to tell him that the hunt was some sort of prank. She arrived at the college and was immediately greeted by Karen, her pretty blond secretary.

"Hi Syd, welcome back" Karen said smiling widely.

"Hi Karen, is everything OK? Where's Nigel" she asked.

Karen looked at her strangely and said "didn't you come back from the airport together?"

"No, isn't he here? He didn't come to Vegas with me" Sydney said, suddenly realising that Karen had no idea where he was! Sydney thought back to the last time she saw him and remembered he'd claimed to be ill, which rather worried her because it now looked like he actually was.

She called his cell several times, but it was switched off.

Recalling that Nigel had once before been seriously ill, when he caught yellow fever, she wasted no further time and drove to his apartment. The last time he'd been ill she'd taken so long to check on him, he'd become desperately dehydrated; in fact, had she taken any longer he might have died! Sydney vowed she'd never allow that happen again, as the guilt she still felt about that was just awful.

Upon arrival at Nigel's apartment she knocked very hard and practically broke down the door when he failed to respond immediately. It then occurred to her that he probably thought she was angry with him for missing the hunt and was too frightened to let her in. She tried to be calm and sound less aggressive as she called through his door; explaining she wasn't cross but just wanted to make sure he was alright.

Just then, Mrs James, Nigel's landlady, who was an elderly English woman, turned up, having heard the banging at Nigel's door. She was a little nervous as she'd no idea who it was trying so hard to get Nigel's attention.

"Can I help you" Mrs James said, quite bravely, although she didn't feel it!

Sydney looked a little embarrassed realising how bad it must look and explained who she was and why she was looking for Nigel.

Mrs James looked surprised and said "goodness, I haven't seen him for a few days dear, I thought he was with you, he's always telling me about your relic hunting adventures. He's such a nice young man, he always pops in for a cup of tea and a chat when he's home. I hope he's alright!" She started to feel a little worried about her young tenant when she noticed how shocked the professor looked, as it suddenly occurred to Sydney that perhaps her little trip to Vegas wasn't set up by a prankster, but by someone who wanted her out of the way so they could get to Nigel!

She tried to think clearly and then recalled how abrupt she'd been with him before she went to Las Vegas and considered the possibility that he might have been so upset he quit his job and went home to England; which was actually preferable to that other horrible thought, although she certainly didn't want him to leave her!

She called Karen to ask her to check if Nigel had left an envelope, possibly containing his resignation, on her desk. Karen looked very carefully but, of course, she found nothing.

Sydney decided, therefore, that the only way to put her mind at rest on that point was to telephone Preston, Nigel's older brother, to check if her assistant had, in fact, gone home. Preston immediately confirmed that he wasn't there but after interrogating Sydney about the circumstances leading to Nigel's disappearance, his state of mind and general health, he stated that if Nigel hadn't turned up within two more days she was to call him and he'd fly to Boston to help find him. Sydney promised that she'd do that and then told Preston that, in the meantime, she'd telephone as many of their mutual friends and colleagues as she could think of to see if anyone had seen Nigel in the last few days.

* * *

><p>Back on the Enterprise Nigel woke up, having slept for a long time; due to whatever Beverly kept squeezing into his arm. The doctor was sat by his bed as he opened his eyes and he immediately requested that she answer the same questions he'd asked the captain the day before. Beverly told him that she wasn't at liberty to tell him much, other than he's getting better and shouldn't worry as everything would be explained to him in due course. Nigel gave Beverly a very pained look and said "Please doctor, I'm scared, I need to know where I am and where Sydney is."<p>

"Sweetie, try not to fret; as the captain said yesterday, you're on the Enterprise. He'll be in to see you in a little while and he'll explain as much as possible then. Now, what would you like for breakfast?" the doctor asked, giving Nigel a reassuring smile.

"I'm not hungry, I just want to see Sydney and go home!" Nigel said, tears threatening to come into his eyes; he just knew something wasn't right.

"Nigel, you have to eat sweetie, you haven't had any food in two days and if you don't eat you won't recover. The captain has no intention of explaining anything to you until you're completely well and able to comprehend what he has to say. Now, what about some scrambled eggs" the doctor said, truly hoping he'd say yes, as she felt he was rather thin and was probably quite weak, having been in bed for two days.

"Alright, I'll have some toast and a cup of tea….. then please will you ask the captain to tell me what's going on?" Nigel said, looking up at Beverly to see if she was listening to him.

"All in good time, now I'll be back in two minutes" she said, walking over to an unusual looking piece of equipment that was fitted into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Toast, 2 slices, buttered. How do you like your tea Nigel?" she asked, looking over to her young patient "any milk or sugar?"

"A little milk and one sugar, please" he replied, wondering who she was speaking to in such an odd manner.

"Tea, hot, milk one sugar" Beverly continued, walking back to Nigel with a plate of hot toast.

"There you go sweetie, try to eat it all, I'll just get your tea" she said, and walked back to the machine; immediately returning with Nigel's drink.

"How did you get that so fast?" Nigel asked in amazement.

"That machine's a replicator, it will replicate almost anything you could possibly need" Beverly said, looking at Nigel to see if he understood what she was saying.

"Will it replicate me a ticket home?" Nigel said, looking quite sad and putting down the toast that he'd hardly touched.

"Nigel, please stop fretting and eat your food, then I'll see if the captain is free to talk to you OK? ….. I won't if you don't eat up!" the doctor said, trying to look cross with him but not succeeding; Nigel so reminded her of her own son.

Nigel forced the toast down and drank his tea while Doctor Crusher attended to some chores in sickbay. He noticed that every now and again she'd tap the badge on her lapel and speak into it, quickly getting a response. Nigel was quite fascinated; he'd never seen anyone use a badge for communication purposes before!

He tried really hard to be patient but so hoped the doctor would hurry up with what she was doing and call the captain to talk to him.

"Crusher to Picard" Beverly said, having tapped her badge and walked over to Nigel "Jean Luc, are you ready to talk to Nigel? He's eaten a little and seems much better today."

"On my way doctor" the captain said.

"What's that badge you keep tapping and talking into doctor?" Nigel asked staring at her lapel.

"It's called a combadge, everyone on board has one so that we can speak to each other" Beverly said, smiling and letting him look a little closer.

A few minutes later the captain walked in and sat on a chair by Nigel's bed. He looked at Nigel and said good morning, but seemed to be thinking very carefully about what else he was going to say.

"Nigel, what I'm about to tell you is going to come as a shock, but I promise everything will be alright, you are in no danger and nobody is going to hurt you. Now just sit up straight and listen."

Nigel pulled himself up a little and the captain said, giving him a comforting smile "I told you yesterday that you are on a ship, well I didn't actually mean a ship on the ocean…. I meant a Starship… in outer space."

Nigel looked at the captain and half smiled; the expression on his face was one of scepticism, as he said "I know I'm a bit gullible sometimes, but I'm not that gullible! This is a practical joke, isn't it? You're just another doctor! Who put you up to this; was it Derek Lloyd?"

Derek was the only person Nigel could think of who might have friends who'd help him with a trick as elaborate as this. Derek was a government agent, who'd been on a couple of relic hunts with him and Sydney. Derek constantly poked fun at Nigel, as he was so young and inexperienced compared to him, but they still became friends.

"Where is he?" Nigel asked, starting to laugh a little, really believing it must be a prank and that he was just in a rather modern hospital.

"It's not a joke Nigel and I've no idea who Derek Lloyd is" the captain said, turning around to Beverly "give him something to stop him feeling nauseous and find him some clothes, then I'll take him on a tour of the ship" he said, thinking I can't say that I blame him for being dubious about all this.

Nigel looked at the captain to see if he was laughing, but he wasn't, in fact, he looked rather serious, which took Nigel by surprise. He didn't really know what to think right then and all sorts of worrying thoughts ran through his head. He felt very confused and one thought he had was that he'd been kidnapped, bearing in mind his brother was a millionaire and these people had kept him drugged to stop him escaping.

"Call me when he's ready Beverly" Jean Luc said, as he left the room.

Beverly smiled at him and said "this won't hurt sweetheart" as she placed what she called a hypospray onto the top of his arm, with his sleeve still rolled down! Nigel tried to pull away from her, so she changed tactics and put the device on his neck! Nigel was shocked but Beverly very gently said "sweetie I'm not trying to harm you; that will stop you feeling queasy when you stand up."

Nigel was shaking, but he noticed he felt fine and that the hypospray apparently had no syringe and was completely painless! He did, however, begin to fear that, if this really was a kidnapping, whatever she'd done might affect him later.

Beverly could see he was scared and wanted to try and clarify a few things and said "I'm sorry I had to give you something earlier to ensure you'd feel woozy if you stood up, but as you'll soon see; it was quite necessary to stop you leaving sickbay alone. It would have been quite disturbing for you if you'd wandered out of here without first having a few things explained to you" She was going to say more but Nigel interrupted.

"Do you mean you deliberately made me sick!" Nigel asked; feeling even more alarmed.

"I had to Nigel; you'll understand why in a little while. I promise you haven't been harmed in any way by what I've given you, I did it for your own good, now please put these on" the doctor said, handing him some clothes. "The blue jacket and black trousers belonged to my son, Wesley, when he was about 15, he's grown out of them now, so I'm sure he won't mind you having them" she said, believing Nigel was going to look really nice, like her son had, several years ago, before he'd gone off travelling the universe. She so wished that Wesley would come back to the Enterprise for a visit.

Nigel got out of bed and was relieved to note that he felt fine this time. He asked the doctor to leave so he could get dressed and Beverly obliged by going into her office, even though she'd already seen him naked having examined him when he initially came aboard!

Nigel took off the thin dressing gown he'd been wearing in bed and put on the outfit, noticing the legs of the trousers were rather long, as were the sleeves of the jacket. The boy who wore this was only 15! I must look like a midget to the doctor, he thought. He did his best to fold up the bottom of the legs and the arms, so that they looked presentable and thought the material felt really nice, but strange, like nothing he'd worn before.

Beverly called to ask if he needed any help but, of course, Nigel was not about to let her help him get dressed! "I'm nearly ready doctor" he said, folding the one sleeve back a little more. When he thought he looked OK he walked out to the centre of sickbay and noticed Beverly standing by her office door. She looked at him, smiled and thought; he looks really cute; Nigel blushed a little noticing her staring at him.

Feeling satisfied that Nigel looked healthy enough to leave sickbay for a while, Beverly patted her combadge and said "Crusher to Captain Picard, Nigel is ready for his tour now."

"On my way doctor" he replied.

The captain returned to sickbay a few minutes later and looked at Nigel. Then, giving him a slight smile he said "come with me young man." Nigel hesitated for a couple of seconds and then nervously followed him.

Nigel found himself in a very long corridor, which had other similar corridors branching off of it; he'd never seen corridors like these before and thought they looked really modern. He kept following the captain and every time they came to a door it quickly opened automatically. Nigel had seen doors like these before, of course, they were quite commonplace, but every door was like that and opened almost instantaneously, which he thought was unusual.

Suddenly they entered a very small room where the captain turned around, stood quite still with his back against the wall and said "Bridge". Nigel realised he must be in a lift, although it didn't feel quite right. A few moments later the doors opened and, to Nigel's utter astonishment, he found himself in a circular room, surrounded by lots of computers and all sorts of technology, which he'd never seen the like of before.

He immediately noticed there were some seats in an oval shaped setting, and in front of them were two further seats, placed in front of a huge screen. He felt his knees giving way as he realised it truly looked like they were flying in a spaceship! Looking behind the oval seats, on a slightly raised platform, stood behind some amazing looking computers, was what could only be described as a monster! He was very large, had a ridged forehead and looked quite aggressive. The 'monster' was, however, wearing a uniform very similar to that which everyone else wore; only his was a mustard colour.

Nigel began to have a panic attack and quickly fainted; his mind being simply unable to take in what he was seeing. When he came around he was still in the circular room but had been placed on one of the chairs. Looking directly at him, just a little way off, was a very pale faced man whose eyes look rather odd. Nigel looked at him and then to the side, where he saw, once again, 'the monster' and started to hyperventilate.

"Are you alright young man" the pale faced man asked, realising who Nigel was staring at "that is just Worf; he will not hurt you; he is a Klingon, although he looks quite ferocious, he is actually perfectly friendly. He is our chief of security and he is here to protect us."

Nigel just stared into space; he couldn't speak, although he tried.

Beverly sat next to him and wiped the hair off is face, offered him some water and said "it's alright Nigel, there are a lot of different species on board the Enterprise, they're all friendly, even if they do look quite different; you'll get used to seeing them. I guess you understand now why we couldn't just let you go wandering off on your own!"

Nigel was trying really hard not to cry, but he was terrified; he couldn't believe what was happening.

Beverly looked at him and gently said "sweetie try to understand, you're in no danger; yes you're on board a Starship, and you're seeing beings from other planets, but they won't harm you and everything's going to be alright, I promise." She took hold of his hand for a minute and squeezed it, trying to reassure him.

Beverly turned to the captain and said in slightly annoyed tone of voice "Jean Luc, I told you Nigel wouldn't be able to stand the shock of just finding himself here! You should have prepared him beforehand; it wouldn't have taken much for someone to talk to him and explain things; regardless of whether or not he'd believe them. You really shouldn't have just beamed him here! You read his profile; you know it said that even though he was a genius he was very insecure, nervous and shy until he was almost 30. He's still only 24, so he's nothing like the man he'll eventually became. I know it was necessary for you to have him here right now, but you could have handled it a lot better!" She turned back to Nigel who was now looking very anxious about what might happen because of the doctor's outburst! He also wondered what she meant by 'beamed him here' and what profile she'd read that would reveal what he'd be like in later life!

Jean Luc, although he didn't like being chastised in front of his crew, was used to Beverly being blunt; indeed, he encouraged complete honesty from her. The doctor was, in fact, permitted to override his orders, on medical grounds. On this occasion though, because it was so important to have Nigel on board, she realised she couldn't prevent that from happening. However, her conscience wouldn't permit her to be completely silent either, which was why she'd voiced her opinion about Nigel's likely bad reaction, prior to his arrival.

Jean Luc understood Beverly's concerns and realised she was already feeling maternal towards the young man, which pleased him, as Nigel wasn't there of his own free will and it was important that, eventually, Nigel felt at ease. However, he couldn't let Beverley's feelings interfere with the task at hand and said "Beverly, we will talk about that later, please just make him comfortable; I need to discuss with him why he's here and I don't want him passing out again!"

Nigel couldn't hold back the tears anymore and he didn't care now who saw them; he was terrified and was completely in the hands of these strange 'people'. He could see the stars outside; he'd seen an alien or perhaps two, so it looked very much like Beverly and the captain were telling the truth about being on a spaceship! Nigel couldn't stand it anymore, so putting his knees up to his chest and stretching his arms around his legs he yelled "what's happening to me, what's happening! Let me go home, please, please let me go!" He sobbed so bitterly that Beverly couldn't bear it, so she placed a hypospray on his arm, pressed it and he immediately fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Back in Boston, two days had passed since Sydney called Preston and, obviously, there was no sign of her young assistant. The police had been informed and they'd promised to do everything they could to try and find him, particularly bearing in mind how long he'd been missing and the fact that he was from a wealthy family and may have been kidnapped.<p>

Sydney kept her word to Preston and rang him, whereupon she noticed how similar he sounded to Nigel when he got nervous; he even stammered, obviously feeling very alarmed about the whereabouts of his little brother. Sydney didn't really want to have Preston with her while she searched for Nigel, but she realised there was nothing she could do to prevent him from joining her; so she didn't even bother to try.

The next day Preston arrived and Sydney could see the concern on his face. It was obvious he'd not slept for a long time and had not even bothered to shave. Even though he and Nigel hadn't always gotten along, Sydney was fully aware that Preston loved his brother and would do anything he could to help find him. Nigel was his only living relative and he worried a great deal about him, especially since Nigel had told him of the dangers he faced as a relic hunter.

Preston knew that his younger brother wasn't particularly strong and, as such, had to rely on Sydney for protection, as she was a martial arts expert. Sydney was generally able to look after herself and Nigel; as she was amazingly strong and agile. However, Preston always felt that, one of these days, Sydney would be in the wrong place at the wrong time and wouldn't be able to prevent Nigel from being attacked. Preston believed that this could be one of those occasions, as she was in Las Vegas when he disappeared.

Unfortunately, it was also the case that Sydney had made lots of enemies during her years of relic hunting, most of them being rival relic hunters who wanted to steal whatever antiquity she'd found. Preston considered it was quite possible that one of those enemies could have kidnapped him.

Relic hunting was something that Sydney Fox was born to do, whereas Nigel would have been quite happy just reading about lost relics, rather than traipsing off all over the world trying to find them. When he'd first applied for the position at the college he'd no idea what was expected of him. However, the fact was, as clumsy as he was when he first started out; he soon became quite brilliant in the field. Sydney had come to rely on him to read and translate ancient writing and hieroglyphics. He was also an expert at working out the sequence that various things had to be pressed, turned or pulled in order to enter a tomb, or open an ancient sealed door. His knowledge of ancient history and languages was actually even more extensive than hers, plus he had a phenomenal memory and could remember facts from right back when he was a very small child.

A few hours before Preston arrived in the USA, Sydney suddenly recalled that a couple of days before she'd gone to Las Vegas, Cate Hemphill had called her to say she was in town for a visit. It then occurred to her that Cate might have something to do with Nigel's disappearance, as she'd bullied him into helping her with dangerous Interpol cases before. The moment that thought came into her head she rang Cate's cell and thought; if she's got Nigel into some risky escapade, I'll kill her! As soon as Cate answered Sydney ranted down the phone "where's Nigel! What have you gotten him into this time!"

Cate was quite taken aback and said "Sydney, I've no idea what you're talking about, none whatsoever!... I assume he must have gone missing!"

"You know very well he has! You've got him working on a case, haven't you!" Sydney shouted.

"Sydney, I haven't spoken to him in months, I tried to speak to him a while ago, but you answered the call. I guess you didn't tell him I'd rung, otherwise he'd have called me back" Cate said, wondering what had happened to him.

Then it dawned on Sydney, she and Nigel have identical cell phones, so when Cate rang, she must have answered Nigel's phone by mistake!

"Cate, do you swear you don't know where he is?" Sydney asked in a desperate tone of voice.

"Sydney, like I said, I haven't seen or spoken to him for at least two months, I rang to tell him I was in Boston, so we could have a drink together and catch up; but you answered his phone! I've no idea what's happened to him but I promise I'll do everything in my power to try and find him, especially since you're so worried. How long has he been missing?" Cate asked, hoping it wasn't too long.

"A week Cate, he's been gone a week!" Sydney said, thinking where the hell is he!

"You're absolutely sure he's not just gone home to England" Cate asked, thinking he might have had a family emergency, although she considered he would have called his boss by now.

Sydney explained the circumstances leading up to Nigel's disappearance and Cate truly wished she'd called her sooner, realising the trail would probably be cold by now. Cate now began to feel as worried as Sydney because she knew that Nigel was not irresponsible and would have contacted his boss, if he could.

* * *

><p>On board the Starship Nigel woke up again and was immediately on edge as he remembered where he was. He was so mixed up by what he'd seen; he couldn't think what to do, especially when he knew there'd be no chance of escape. The fact was, no matter how kind Beverly and the captain appeared to be, he still felt like a prisoner with no chance of parole!<p>

He lay in his bed mulling over his situation and kept thinking about Sydney, believing now he would never have the opportunity to tell her how he really feels about her. The truth was, he was in love with her, but he'd always been convinced that Sydney would never feel the same about him, as she treated him like a kid most of the time. He didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but he thought he'd noticed a slight change in her attitude towards him during the time they were in England, on their last hunt. In fact, he felt she treated him more like a partner than an assistant on that hunt, which had really pleased him.

Of course, he knew she appreciated his brilliance as a young relic hunter; such as when he unravelled clues leading to an amazing find. He even knew how delighted she was by the way he undertook his college duties; as he'd received glowing appraisals each year. But as a man, he thought he could never compete with the kind of guys Sydney was usually attracted to; believing she thought he was too young, too small and too timid for her to even consider as a boyfriend. He lay there thinking about what he would say to her if, by some miracle, he ever got the chance to see her again. The thoughts went over and over in his head, although in the end he came to the conclusion that, in all probability, he'd never see her again, which made him even more miserable.

After lying there torturing himself for about an hour, Beverly came in and said "Nigel sweetie, are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, a bit, but I want to go home, please let me go! I won't tell anyone about what I've seen, or what happened, please let me go!" he begged, as the tears started to fall again; thinking it was no wonder Sydney thought of him the way she did, when he cried like this!

"Oh sweetheart, don't get upset" Beverly said, sitting on the side of his bed and taking his hand "nothing bad is going to happen to you; I won't let it! You really are here for a very good reason but, unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to tell you what that is …. the captain will though. I'll tell you one thing …. it's a matter of life and death! Well, at least to the people of the 24th century anyway" she said, confusing Nigel completely. "You won't be here forever; we'll send you home as soon as we can; so try not to fret" Beverly looked at Nigel, who looked so vulnerable, and truly wished it didn't have to be this way. She tapped her combadge and said "Crusher to Captain Picard."

"Yes Beverly" the captain replied.

"Are you free to see Nigel, he's awake but he's very upset" she said, hoping Jean Luc would agree to see him as it seemed cruel to allow the young man to wait any longer for an explanation.

"Alright; try to calm him down and then bring him to my ready room" the captain said, obviously not looking forward to the meeting, but realising it was necessary.

"Yes captain" she replied.

"OK Nigel, go and freshen up and I'll take you to see the captain again. Don't look so worried sweetie; you're very important to our future and the captain is going to explain why" Beverly said, wishing he didn't have to go through all this.

**PLEASE REVIEW - the next chapter I will reveal why Nigel has been taken to the Enterprise.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.**_

**IMPORTANT: Please go with the flow with regard to the timing of things on Earth as opposed to the timing of things on the Enterprise! All will be revealed in later chapters.**

**CHAPTER THREE**

Back in Boston Sydney, Preston and Cate checked all of the hospitals in case Nigel had been taken to one of them unconscious but, of course, he hadn't. They then carried out the horrible task of checking the morgues, in case Nigel's body was there and, obviously, they were extremely relieved to learn that it wasn't.

Having discovered nothing so far, they began to discuss the very real possibility that Nigel might have been kidnapped. That was sort of Sydney's initial thought when she discovered Nigel was missing; however, she'd put that to the back of her mind until now, realising there could be dozens of reasons why Nigel, or anyone else, might have gone missing.

Sydney now recalled that Nigel had once been held hostage by Derek Lloyd, who'd captured her assistant to force her to search for the lost Kai Nomata tribe, in New _Guinea_. Of course, she didn't suspect Derek of this crime, as he'd become a friend in recent years. However, upon further consideration of the matter the three of them realised that no demands of any kind had been made for Nigel's return, there wasn't even a ransom note; so actually there was no evidence to suggest he'd been kidnapped.

Then a horrible thought came into Cate's mind; she remembered that Sydney had once been kidnapped and there'd been no demands of any kind made for her return! The man who'd taken Sydney was, Edward Patel, the leader of the Cult of Kali, and all he wanted to do sacrifice her! Luckily Cate and Nigel, along with the Police, rescued her before that could happen.

They all then began thinking that something like that could possibly have happened to Nigel, the thought of which caused them such heartache.

Sydney tried hard to keep focused and came up with the names of as many of her adversaries as she could think of, realising that her enemies were almost certainly Nigel's too. Cate ran those names through Interpol's computers, just like she had when Sydney was missing; however most of the criminals that were considered possibilities were either dead or in prison and the ones that weren't, when questioned, could prove they'd not seen him.

They then began going over everything again and again to make sure they'd not missed a vital clue. They noted that Nigel's landlady had seen nothing, nobody at Trinity had either and Sydney couldn't remember anything unusual except for the fake telephone message she'd received. Cate had already examined Sydney's phone and contacted her service provider to see if there was any record of where the call had come from, but it appeared as though either no such call was made, or all traces of it had been erased.

Having checked Nigel's apartment several times, the one thing they hadn't realised was missing initially, was his passport! When that was discovered they looked at it as a positive thing, believing then it was quite possible that Nigel might have left the country of his own free will. They, therefore, immediately checked the airlines, the docks and even some local travel agents but, of course, no trace of him was found. They felt really annoyed with themselves at having missed such a vital clue earlier!

A couple more weeks passed and Preston was becoming particularly distraught. He'd started carrying a photograph of his younger brother in his wallet and looked at it quite often. One day, as he sat in Sydney's kitchen, which they were using as a base while they searched for Nigel, Preston took out the photograph and held it to his chest. His heart was aching; feeling, deep down, that everything was his fault as Nigel had only left home because he'd treated him so badly.

Sydney tried hard to convince Preston that it wasn't his fault, advising that no matter what had happened between him and his brother in the past, Nigel had forgiven him and loves him; yet he still chose to stay in America. Preston sobbed in her arms, just like Nigel had on several occasions and she suddenly realised just how similar the two brothers could be. She held Preston really tightly, shedding a few tears herself as, if the truth was told; she was secretly blaming herself for her assistant's disappearance!

Preston was absolutely beside himself with worry, as what he didn't tell Sydney was that, although he was blaming himself for his brother going missing, he was also having terrible thoughts about what could be happening to him. He'd heard about good looking boys and pretty girls being kidnapped and used as sex slaves; there were no ransom demands for them! He'd looked after Nigel since he was a child and had always protected him from anything even slightly sordid or distasteful. He himself though, being rather unpopular with women in his younger days, had been involved in the sleazier side of things, having had prostitutes in their home; which was where he'd heard about such things as sex slaves! However, to his credit, he'd never allowed any of those women to see or touch his brother, even when Nigel was a teenager.

Sydney tried her best to cheer up Preston but it was very difficult without any news of Nigel's whereabouts and in any event, she felt just as miserable as him!

One day, a few weeks after they'd discovered Nigel's passport was missing, Sydney, Cate and Preston were sitting in the ancient studies department, discussing how brilliant and talented Nigel was. Preston was being particularly complimentary about Nigel's skills, when suddenly, out of the blue; Sydney came up with one more possibility about Nigel's disappearance that they'd not considered before and that was that he didn't actually want to be found!

Nigel had said several times to Sydney that he'd like to live a life of solitude; although this was usually just after he'd just broken up with his latest girlfriend and she'd never really taken him seriously. However, it now occurred to her that he could have been serious and was now alone on a desert island, or somewhere quiet where he could read in peace; where he'd not keep having his heart broken by every woman who came into his life. Sydney was extremely concerned when that thought struck her, because no matter how much Nigel had learned about life from her; she believed he wasn't capable of looking after himself to the degree it would take to pull off a stunt like that! He simply wasn't streetwise enough and constantly got himself into trouble because of it. Nigel, of course, may not have actually realised that!

Although the thought of Nigel being all alone was horrendous to Sydney, Preston; although he didn't actually say it, definitely preferred that possibility to any of the things he'd considered!

Cate, however, reminded them that Nigel would still need money, no matter where he went, and as soon as he used his credit card or even his passport again, they'd locate him. Therefore, the only thing they could think to do now was allow Cate to return to the offices of Interpol; thus enabling her to keep looking for credit card transactions, any usage of Nigel's passport, or any sightings of the missing young man.

On board the Enterprise Beverly took Nigel by the hand, as he was still looking very anxious. They walked along the corridor and into the same lift as he'd been in before. To take his mind off his pending meeting with the captain, Beverly explained about the amazing transportation system they had throughout the ship; advising they were in what was called a turbolift, which could travel from side to side as well as up and down!

Just before they reached their destination, Beverly confirmed again to Nigel that the captain was going to explain the reasons why he was needed on the ship and that it was very important he keeps calm when he's on the Bridge. She squeezed Nigel's hand, smiled and said "try to pass through the Bridge without worrying about who or what you see. The captain doesn't want to wait any longer to explain things to you and, sweetie, it really is nothing to worry about, I promise. Jean Luc is actually a very kind man; he's fair and just to everyone; in as much as life situations make that possible. He sometimes forgets though what it's like to be young; which is one of the reasons he's finding it so difficult to communicate with you. What's even worse is that, in your case, you're a civilian and you don't even come from the same century!"

Nigel didn't reply; he felt so confused by her last remarks, although he realised she was just trying to help.

When they arrived on the Bridge Nigel looked nervously over at Worf; who seemed so enormous to him. He then looked at the pale faced man, who was also quite tall, but didn't look so scary this time.

"Come on Nigel, they won't hurt you" Beverly said, taking a very tense looking Nigel over to see the captain in his ready room. Once there she left him to talk privately with Jean Luc.

"Sit down Nigel" the captain said "can I get you something to eat or drink?"

"Um do you have any tea, please Sir?" Nigel asked very timidly, thinking it might calm his nerves.

The captain smiled and walked over to the replicator; similar to the one in sickbay and asked "how do you like your tea Nigel?"

"Just a little milk and one spoonful of sugar please" he said, thinking it would be wonderful to have a machine like that at Trinity, it would save so much time.

"Tea, milk one sugar" the captain said, the cup of tea appearing in front of him instantly. He carried it over to Nigel and put it on the side of his desk "now Nigel, you drink that and I'll explain why you're here, alright?"

"O…K Sir" Nigel said, sipping his tea, thinking it tasted just like his mother made when he was a little boy.

"Nigel, what do you know about how time works?" the captain asked.

"Sorry?" Nigel said, looking very confused.

"Time, do you know anything about how it works?" the captain asked again.

"Well no, no Sir, I don't" Nigel said, thinking what an odd thing to ask.

"Well Nigel, let me try and explain it to you in very simplified terms" the captain said, having previously worked out how he would describe such a complex topic. "You see Nigel; time is like one continual line, whereby everything that occurs along it is supposed to happen. Can you then imagine what would happen if the timeline was altered or disrupted in some way?

"I guess things would go a bit awry" Nigel said, thinking this is a bit weird!

"Yes, that's right, in fact, if the timeline was deliberately altered, it would shoot off in a completely different direction, causing things to occur that actually shouldn't; ultimately changing the future!"

Jean Luc looked at Nigel who was sitting opposite him looking quite bewildered.

"Do you understand basically what I mean Nigel?" the captain asked.

"Yes I get what you mean Sir, it's just that I don't understand why you're telling me all this" Nigel said, hoping Jean Luc would get to the point.

"Nigel I think it would be best if I just go through with you what the problem is. You see the timeline has actually been distorted; we haven't found the cause yet, but the fact of the matter is; the timeline is no longer how it should be. We were very lucky in that a time traveller visited us on the Enterprise to warn us about the variation; hoping that we would find a way to prevent a disastrous future for everyone. He came to see us before the effects of the disruption had affected us and took me into the future of the distorted timeline to show me what would happen if nothing was done about it. Nigel that was not a place that anyone would want to be; people were miserable and there'd been a war between the people of Earth and ten other planets for the past 50 years! I saw other versions of the Enterprise crew, including myself; we were aggressive and unfeeling towards each other and to everyone else. Nigel, we must repair the timeline to prevent a future like that becoming a reality."

Nigel was just sitting there staring at Jean Luc, who went on to say "Unfortunately, I've had to make some very difficult decisions about how to correct the problem. You see Nigel, if certain things don't happen on Earth within the next few years, and the timeline continues as it is, then everyone on board this ship, along with everyone else from the 24th century, will only exist as I just described to you" the captain said, quite seriously.

"I, understand what you've just said Sir, but I don't understand what it has to do with me, I'm just a teaching assistant, I'm only 24 years old; I've no power to change time!" Nigel said, suddenly getting really worried about what might happen to him if he was of no use to them.

"Nigel, you actually are part of the problem with the timeline!" the captain said, noticing the young man go very pale. "Don't worry, it'll be alright, all we actually need you to do is stay on board the Enterprise for a few weeks to allow some things on Earth to happen, then you can go home" Jean Luc said, realising this vague piece of information would unsettle Nigel.

"Stay here for a few weeks! But why, why have I got to stay here!" Nigel said, getting really agitated "I don't belong in the 24th century!"

"Nigel you're not actually in the 24th century, you're on a ship from that time but the fact of the matter is; you're still in the 21st century! We have to repair the timeline from the point it was altered, so we've travelled back in time to do that" Jean Luc said, hoping that would make Nigel feel a little better.

"Sir, what exactly do you need me to do while I'm here?" Nigel asked, feeling better now the captain had said he was still in the 21st century but uneasy about what he'd say next.

"Actually Nigel, you don't need to do anything but enjoy yourself!" Jean Luc said. "Let me explain…. you see son, I'm very aware of how deeply, shall we say, attracted you are to your boss, Sydney Fox. You try to keep your feelings hidden, but deep down you really want a romantic relationship with her, don't you?" the captain asked.

"How, how do you know, I mean why do you say that?" Nigel asked, wondering if these space people had been probing his head earlier when he was thinking about Sydney.

"I can't tell you exactly how I know that, but if we'd have left you on Earth you'd have ended up marrying Sydney!" Jean Luc said, noticing Nigel's eyes almost pop out of his head.

"Really!" he said "so, um, what's wrong with that Sir, it sounds like the best thing that could possibly happen to me, it's my dream come true! How could that possibly cause a problem to the timeline?"

"Well Nigel, the thing is, a little while ago Sydney started to become very attracted to you and if you'd have fallen in love and married her you'd have had twin sons; who'd have been geniuses, just like you but, unfortunately, they'd have become famous actors, instead of the professors or scientists which, I'm sure, is what you'd have liked them to be" the captain said, noticing the astonished look on Nigel's young face, although deciding to ignore it and complete his explanation. However, before he could do that Nigel interrupted.

"That still sounds wonderful! Apart from my children being actors" Nigel said, suddenly realising that he was talking about something that hasn't actually happened yet, but which might if he goes back to Earth right now! Of course, being the extremely clever young man that he was, he knew the captain was trying to tell him something more, even if he couldn't work out the details, although he knew it couldn't be good!

"Nigel son" the captain said, looking very serious "that marriage to Sydney must not be allowed to happen, if it does we're all doomed! What has to happen, to put the timeline back on course, is completely different and, I'm sorry son, you won't like it."

"What, what has to hap… happen then Sir? I can still work for and be friends with Sydney can't I?" Nigel said, desperately hoping that the captain was going to say yes.

"Nigel, of course you can, that is if you want to, but I'm afraid that your brother Preston is the one who must marry her!" Jean Luc said, noticing a look of horror on Nigel's face.

"What! That's ridiculous!" he yelled "Sydney likes Preston a bit, but she doesn't like him enough to want to marry him; he's nothing like the men she likes! She goes for strong men, who can take care of themselves in a fight. Preston may have a mean right hand, he beat my behind enough with it when I was younger; but he's not got any rippling muscles or the personality to match that type of physique" Nigel said, looking at the captain with a pleading look on his face.

"Nigel you've just said yourself what type of man Sydney likes and although it may not match Preston, it doesn't match you either now, does it?" the captain said, looking at Nigel as much as to say, I wish I could tell you something different. He went on "that variance in the timeline changed a lot of things Nigel, including the way Sydney looked at you, but as I've explained – it's your brother who must marry the professor, not you; I'm so sorry."

Nigel looked like someone had given him the most wonderful gift in the world and then, just to taunt him, took it away and gave it to someone else.

"Sir, I just don't understand why Sydney has to marry my brother; he made my life a misery when I was growing up. He competed with me for everything and mostly won; making me feel like a complete failure. Now you're telling me I have to give up Sydney so that he can have her! How can you be so cruel to make me stay here so that that can happen! He's taken so many things from me over the years, now he's going to take the woman I love too!" Nigel said, starting to cry quite bitterly; realising that even though he'd become quite close to Preston again in the last year or so, the thought of him with Sydney was just too much to bear.

"Nigel I'm so very sorry but if Sydney and Preston don't marry, they won't have a daughter, who'll become a scientist and invent many things that in the future will be used in warp engine technology. She'll be the designer of many prototype engines and not only that, a lot of her original designs; once modifications are made through the years; will be used on Starships! She'll make so many technological advances in her relatively short life, but if she's not born, Starships and many other things that exist now, will not come into being for at least another 150 years! Son, I know this is terribly hard on you but, at the moment, keeping you away from Sydney, is absolutely vital. The only way that the timeline can be corrected, is by you staying here so that romance can blossom between them! Son I will personally make sure you enjoy your stay on board the Enterprise and, don't forget, you'll have a supremely intelligent niece, whom you'll love and who'll absolutely adore you" Jean Luc said, getting up from his desk and walking towards Nigel.

Unaccustomed as Jean Luc was in dealing with emotional people, he gently pulled Nigel up out of his chair, put his arms around him and hugged him very tightly; not only because he knew Nigel needed it, to relieve the terrible heartache he was experiencing, but because he realised that Nigel was, in fact, their saviour! He, therefore, intended to make sure that things were as pleasant as possible for the young man while he stayed on the ship; in fact, he'd arranged something pretty special for him!

**PLEASE REVIEW: in the next chapter you'll find out what happens between Sydney and Preston and how Nigel came to meet his parents again!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.**_

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Sydney and Preston checked with the police and Interpol regularly over a period of weeks but, of course, neither had found any clues to Nigel's whereabouts. They also periodically checked the hospitals and morgue and were always grateful to find nothing there! Cate promised to continue the search for as long as Interpol permitted her to do so, although Sydney, after about nine weeks, was forced to get back to normality as Trinity couldn't continue to use temporary teachers forever.

She returned to work with a very heavy heart, feeling completely lost without Nigel. It was hard for her to concentrate or get motivated and even Karen, who could usually brighten anyone's day, felt powerless to help her. Of course, Karen was missing Nigel too and had been terribly upset by not being permitted to assist with the search. However, she did have an important role to play and that was to stay in the office in case Nigel should call! Deep down she realised that someone had to do that and Sydney always kept her in the loop.

Preston, having tried hard to persuade Sydney to continue the search a bit longer, finally realised they'd exhausted every avenue and reluctantly telephoned the British Museum to advise he'd be back at work quite soon. However, to his utter astonishment, his cold hearted boss told him his services were no longer required and that he'd been replaced! Even though Preston was disgusted by the insensitivity of the head curator, who'd known all along why he was away, he wasn't financially worried about being unemployed as he'd inherited a fortune from his father at the age of 25. He'd actually never needed to work since then but the job was interesting and it kept him busy. His biggest fear now was that having so much time on his hands he'd be constantly thinking about Nigel.

Sydney was very sympathetic when she heard Preston's news and gave him a reassuring hug, telling him she believed everything would be fine and that he'd soon find something else that was interesting to get involved in.

Having booked his return flight to England, reality hit Preston hard as he wondered how he was going to explain to Louisa Wright, his and Nigel's childhood nanny, what had happened to his little brother! Louisa was like a mother to them and, so far, he'd managed to avoid telling her the truth. However, he now realised that once he got home he'd have to face her and be honest and no matter how he worded it, Louisa was going to be devastated. Preston kept thinking about the difficult task ahead of him as he finished his packing and put his passport into his jacket pocket. He took a deep breath, gave his room a once over, to ensure he'd not forgotten anything, and then opened the door to leave. He'd barely taken two steps towards the corridor when Sydney suddenly barged past him, almost knocking him off his feet!

"Preston, he can't do it to me, he can't" she yelled.

"What's the matter Sydney, who can't do what!" he asked, rubbing his shoulder where Sydney had bumped into him.

"The Dean, he can't, he's threatening to replace Nigel with some idiot!" she shouted, looking like she was about to take off somebody's head! She began pacing up and down the room yelling "he's no idea how to choose an assistant for me! He's likely to appoint someone like Stewie Harper or Dallas Carter! I need someone who's intelligent, with experience of relic hunting; but mostly someone who won't try and steal the relics before we get them home!" She put her hands on her hips and then suddenly spun around to face Preston, who was now peeping around the edge of the door; feeling a bit intimidated by Sydney's display of anger.

"Sydney, I'm really sorry but I have to go, if I don't leave now I'll miss my flight" he said, looking at his watch and back up to her.

"Then don't go!" she said, suddenly looking like she'd just had a brainwave!"

"What, but I have to….. you said yourself I can't keep looking for Nigel forever!" he said, looking rather bemused.

"No, I don't mean that, I mean you should temporarily take Nigel's job! That'll solve my problem and give you that extra time you wanted to look for Nigel!" she said, hating the thought of doing this as she considered Nigel irreplaceable. However, her work was so backed up she had to do something quickly before the Dean carried out his threat!

Having undertaken a couple of relic hunts with Preston in the past, when they'd found Ann Boleyn's ring and a vial of water from The Fountain of Youth, Sydney realised he'd be more than capable of helping her. After all, Preston was a trained teacher, he had extensive knowledge of ancient history, having worked at the British Museum, and would certainly not steal a relic!

Preston was rather shocked by the suggestion but when he actually thought about it his main concern was how Nigel might feel. He remembered what had happened between them, just before Nigel left home to start working for Sydney. He and Nigel had both applied for the same position at the British Museum and to put Nigel at a disadvantage, he'd sneakily exposed his younger brother to horse hair, just before his interview. He knew full well that Nigel was allergic to it and would have a serious reaction; not to mention the fact that the antihistamine pills he had to take to relieve the symptoms, would make him drowsy! It was hardly surprising, therefore, that Nigel failed to get the job but, obviously, he did. When Nigel found out what he'd done he was furious and it was two years before they spoke again face to face. At that point Nigel tried hard to come to terms with Preston's behaviour and accepted his apology; however, it took another 14 months before Nigel truly forgave him and Preston didn't want to do anything to damage their relationship again.

Because of Preston's guilty past, Sydney found it very difficult to persuade him that Nigel would understand, in the circumstances, why he'd taken the position. He did eventually come round to her way of thinking but it took quite a while before he felt at ease with the decision.

To make Preston feel more at home, Sydney decided to speak to Mrs James to see if she'd allow him to use Nigel's apartment while he was away. She still used the word 'away' when she referred to Nigel, as she continued to hope he'd eventually return. Preston had been paying the rent on the apartment anyway to ensure Nigel's property stayed just as he'd left it; apart from the slight disruption caused when they'd searched the place. Mrs James had no problem with it at all; in fact she rather liked the idea of having Nigel's brother there to keep her company.

Preston knew he had to come clean about Nigel to Louisa Wright, even if he did it over the telephone. However, the only way he felt he could do it was via Louisa's brother, Frederick. As a boy Preston was very close to him; however, because of his rough treatment of Nigel, after their parents had passed on, they'd fallen out. Uncle Frederick, as both brothers still called him, had always been close to Nigel and the news of his disappearance was devastating to him. However, Frederick promised Preston he'd tell Louisa and stay with her, realising she wouldn't take the news well and would most definitely be beside herself with worry, just like he was.

Back on the ship Captain Picard truly felt so sorry for Nigel, he knew how much the young man loved Sydney Fox and having seen several pictures of her in the extensive Enterprise database, he realised why; she was simply beautiful. He also knew about Nigel's problems with his older brother, as Nigel's entire life story was documented in his autobiography, entitled 'Nigel from the Beginning' which he would eventually write at the age of 50. However, without telling Nigel about the book, the captain explained how catastrophic it could be if his future was revealed to him, explaining that if he knew his destiny, he'd have the power to change it, and should he do that when he's sent back to Earth, he could inadvertently change the timeline all over again!

There was, however, a procedure, that Jean Luc hoped Beverly would be able to put Nigel through which would wipe out his memory purely of the time he'd spent on the Enterprise, ensuring that everything he learned about the future, would be forgotten. The procedure was, unfortunately, risky to a small minority and, therefore, before Beverly could be certain that Nigel was not one of those, his health records and family history had to be checked very carefully. His autobiography was, obviously, not detailed enough for this purpose and, therefore, was of little use. Whilst the uncertainty existed regarding the procedure, the crew were under strict instructions to be extremely careful about what they said to Nigel.

Of course a bright young man like Nigel was bound to discover things that, perhaps, he shouldn't, just by wandering around the ship; although apart from keeping him a prisoner, there was very little that could be done about it, although some precautions had to be taken.

The one thing though that the captain felt duty bound to tell him was that his life would be very happy and successful and that he would never have any financial worries. Jean Luc realised that Nigel truly needed to know he had something to look forward to, regardless of whether or not he'd marry Sydney.

It was estimated that Nigel would need to spend about six weeks on the ship to get the timeline to the point it was safe to return him home; however, during that time approximately three years would have passed on Earth! This was because the Enterprise would be jumping forward, and occasionally backwards, in time! As this was happening Jean Luc would periodically send an officer down to Earth to check that things that needed to occur actually did; thus he was kept fully up-dated and knew exactly what still had to happen before the timeline could be considered back on track.

Jean Luc was not someone who would normally allow even one person to suffer to help another; however, the matter of the disruption to the timeline was so huge, he could think of no other way of dealing with it.

Having realised, right from the start that he'd be giving Nigel no choice at all but to stay on the ship and allow things to progress on Earth; he wanted to ensure Nigel's stay was enjoyable, even if he didn't end up remembering it! Therefore, prior to transporting him on board, he'd asked his second in command, Data, to prepare something very special for the young man.

The day after Jean Luc's revelation about what must happen on Earth, he tried his best to comfort Nigel and make him feel happier about being on the Enterprise. He realised that Nigel had every reason to hate him, but he could tell that he didn't, and that made things a little easier between them.

"Come with me son, I have a surprise for you" the captain said, putting his arm over Nigel's shoulder and guiding him into the turbolift.

"Holodeck 2" Jean Luc said and within minutes they were at their destination; the captain feeling unusually excited about what he was about to show his young captive.

"Nigel, I want to show you something that I've had prepared for you that I believe you'll find quite amazing. In a couple of minutes I'll take you onto the Holodeck where a computerised program will be run. Now you're going to probably think that what you are seeing is real, but as realistic as it looks and feels…. it's not, it's just a holographic projection, or as we call it, a holoprogram. I'm sure you're going to love it" the captain said, smiling at Nigel, although noticing he looked a little sceptical.

Jean Luc guided Nigel through the doorway of the Holodeck where Nigel noticed it was a really unusual room with large squares all around the walls; ceiling and floor; making Nigel feel like he was inside a huge box.

"This is it Nigel, Holodeck 2" the captain said, almost gushing with pride.

"Is it going to be something like a 3D movie?" Nigel asked; which was a little worrying to him as they made him feel nauseous, it was something to do with the movement.

"Actually son, it's a lot better than that" the captain said, taking Nigel over to meet Data, who turned out to be the very pale faced man, with the strange looking eyes, that Nigel had seen on the Bridge.

"Nigel, this is Lieutenant Commander Data" Jean Luc said.

"Hell, hello Sir, um, nice to meet you" Nigel said nervously, believing he must be an alien.

"I am very pleased to meet you too Nigel, we were not formally introduced on the Bridge but I hope we will become good friends" Data said, looking at Nigel, who appeared to be a little stunned.

The captain realised that Nigel was unsure of what to make of the unusual looking man, so he stepped in and said "Nigel, believe it or not, Data is an android who can speak thousands of languages and compute millions of mathematical problems; he is by far the most knowledgeable member of the crew."

Nigel was taken aback, and stood there just staring at Data with his mouth agape; he'd simply never seen anything like him before! He moved a little closer and looked up at his face and said "you're an, an… android, but you, you… look so human; except you're even paler than me and your eyes are um… a bit different."

"I am a lot more sophisticated than other androids, I am a sentient android; I have a positronic brain which is like an advanced computer that provides me with a form of consciousness; that is why I am permitted to be a Lieutenant Commander and serve on the Enterprise" Data said, in a matter of fact tone.

"Really!" Nigel said, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

"Yes I can do many things that a human cannot do, for instance….…" Data was about to explain a lot more about himself when the captain stopped him and said "Data please show Nigel one of the holoprograms that you've designed for him, I'd like to see his reaction and then I have to leave."

"Certainly captain" Data said, looking at Nigel and pressing a couple of buttons on a panel near the door.

"Look into the room Nigel, you'll see something I think you'll consider is quite remarkable" the captain said. Nigel did as he was told and to his utter astonishment his mother and father appeared in front of him! They looked exactly as they did a few hours before they were killed in a terrible accident, when he was 12! Because of Nigel's extraordinary memory he remembered every detail about that day, including what his parents were wearing. They appeared to be in the kitchen of his beautiful house in London, which he and Preston still owned. The shock of seeing his parents caused Nigel to completely blank out what the captain had just told him about holoprograms and he ran over to them and yelled "Mum! Dad! I'm so happy to see you; I thought I'd never see you again!"

Tears of joy poured down his face as he pressed his head against his mother's shoulder, stretching out his arms to reach around both parents.

"Nigel, sweetheart, calm down, don't be so silly; why wouldn't you see us again?" his mother asked "has Preston been teasing you with stories about daddy and I leaving you again? You shouldn't listen to him darling; you know he's joking!" She tweaked his nose playfully and said "I've put the ice cream you wanted in the freezer; you can have it after dinner, now…. no more crying!"

She then turned her attention to tidying up the kitchen and chatted as she cleaned; just like she always used to when she was at home. "Daddy and I have completed our talks with the headmaster at St Bartholomews School and he's so looking forward to having a clever boy like you there. He thinks you're going to be very busy though with all the courses you've chosen….now have you been good boy while daddy and I have been at the school?

"Um yes mum, I've … I've been, been um I, I" Nigel said, looking very confused. He turned around to look at the captain and Data, but was surprised to note they'd disappeared! All there was in the place they'd been standing was a blue door. Nigel suddenly felt quite panic-stricken and shouted "Oh my God! What's happening!" Just at that moment a young Preston strolled into the kitchen, ruffled Nigel's hair and said "what are you up to Podge?" Nigel was so shocked he just ran towards the blue door and bumped straight into Jean Luc!

"Freeze program" the captain shouted and instantly Nigel's parents, Preston and everything else in the room; apart from the captain, Data and Nigel went into a state of suspended animation!

Nigel had his back to the room, he was shaking and yelled at Jean Luc "am I dead! Is this what happens when you die!" His heart was beating really fast and tears began pooling in his eyes.

"No, no Nigel, you certainly aren't dead; if that was the case you wouldn't be seeing Preston at age 19, now would you! It's like I said earlier, they're not real, even though they look and feel like they are; they're nothing more than extremely realistic holographic projections" the captain said, putting his arm over Nigel's shoulder to calm him. "Look at them now, they're frozen waiting for the program to either be continued or turned off."

Nigel looked into the room and realised it was true, they were just as the captain said, a frozen holoprogram.

"It just felt so…. I don't know; so weird…. and mum was speaking to me like I'm still a little boy" Nigel said, looking up at the captain and Data; suddenly feeling rather silly as he obviously knew Preston was alive and well and probably either had or was about to steal his Sydney!

"Nigel, Data has produced a wide range of holoprograms for you; it's only in this one that you'll be seen as a child, as that's what you were before your parents died. In all of the others you'll be seen just as you are now. I'm sure, once you start to feel comfortable around your holofamily, you'll love them and this time perhaps you'll find it more pleasant to be with Preston. In all of the holoprograms Data has made him just a little bit gentler, but to keep it realistic in this holoprogram he'll still poke fun at you and compete for everything, but you'll notice his kindness as well. As I said, Preston is 19 here; the age he was when your parents died. You see Nigel, I thought you'd like to experience what it might have been like if your parents had lived longer and Preston hadn't been forced to raise you. Data's also made Preston, and your parents, a few inches taller here, that way it will feel more natural when they treat you like a little boy. You'll now be able to do all those things you missed out on because of what happened in your real childhood. You could have a picnic by the River Thames, play football, paint or play the piano; the holoprogram has endless possibilities. You obviously won't have to attend that horrible boarding school where you were beaten so badly; but you could still be punished by your parents if you misbehave! I just want you to have the opportunity to experience what your home life might have been like if you'd have attended a day school. The thing is Nigel; you're sacrificing so much for everyone on board the Enterprise so I wanted to give you something in return; that's why I asked Data to make so many holoprograms for you, but this one in particular" the captain said, watching Nigel closely to see his reaction.

"It was the worst day of my life when my mum and dad were killed Sir and, obviously, I can only remember them from my childhood. I can't even imagine what it would be like to still have them around, but I think I'd like to experience it" Nigel said, looking back at the frozen holoprogram; wondering what he could do make things happen the way he wanted them to. Of course, he always could twist his father around his little finger, but his mum and definitely Preston, would be more difficult!

"Would you like to resume this program from where you left off, or start again? Or would you prefer to end the program and do this another time?" the captain asked, hoping Nigel would want to continue.

"I guess I'll just resume from where I left it, Sir" Nigel said, understanding the position a little better now.

"That's good Nigel but as I said, Data has designed some really special holoprograms for you, so when you want to try something different, just let him know and as long as you haven't spent too much time on the Holodeck, he'll set up another one for you. Now, go with the flow on this one, OK?" Jean Luc said, pushing Nigel back towards his mother. "Resume program" the captain said, and the holoprogram started up again; Mrs Bailey continuing to talk to Nigel like nothing had happened.

"Nigel don't squeal like that, you know very well what's happening, we're all going out to buy Preston a new car" she said; putting away her duster.

"You'd better stop teasing Nigel young man, if you don't want us to change our minds about the car!" she said to Preston, as she saw him smirking at his little brother. Nigel played along and became completely oblivious to the fact that Data was still behind the door viewing everything he did on a small screen. The captain had to leave to attend to his many duties, but he stayed long enough to witness Nigel fully appreciating the situation and looking relaxed with his parents and brother.

After Nigel had been on the Holodeck for about three hours Data said "pause program!" However, it was so unexpected, Nigel almost jumped out of his skin when everything suddenly froze again. He stayed sat on the grass in the garden of his beautiful home, where he'd been talking to Preston about his new car and wondered what he was supposed to do now. At that moment Data walked over to him and stretched his hand down to help Nigel up.

"I am sorry young man but you have to stop now as it is not healthy to stay too long on the Holodeck; it can become quite addictive" Data said "save program!"

Nigel felt a sudden deep loss as his family completely disappeared and gave Data a very hurt look. Data didn't appear to notice the pain he was causing at all, although he explained "I have saved the program exactly as you left it, you can access it again another time from that point. I will take you to Ten Forward now and arrange for you to have some lunch, doctor Crusher asked that I ensure that you eat properly" Data said, as he held Nigel's arm firmly and led him off the Holodeck. Nigel was still sulking as they entered the turbolift, but he didn't say anything.

"Deck 10" Data said and a few minutes later they were there.

"This is Ten Forward Nigel, this is where members of the crew dine together and spend time socially when they are off duty" Data said, gently pushing Nigel further into the room.

Nigel noticed that Ten Forward was a very large room with huge windows, giving everyone spectacular views of the stars and planets outside. There was a long bar on one side of the room with high stools in front of it, where the bar tender, a rather kind looking black lady with a huge hat, was pouring out drinks. Nigel thought her hat made her look like a futuristic nun but, obviously, he was too polite to say so! On the other side of the room, in front of the windows, were lots of tables where people were enjoying their lunch or just chatting. Nigel immediately felt on edge as he noticed that some of them looked really strange and, of course, he knew they must be aliens!

Data took him over to meet the bar tender, whose name was Guinan, she'd left the bar area and was now sitting at one of the tables.

"Nigel this is Guinan, she is from El-Auria; her people are also referred to as 'the listeners'. She will help you chose something to eat and then I am sure she will introduce you to some of the other members of the crew. I have to go back on duty now; enjoy your meal." He then left Ten Forward, apparently oblivious to the fact that Nigel was feeling quite unhappy; however, Guinan wasn't.

"Hello Nigel, nice to meet you. What would you like to eat?" she said, smiling widely, hoping she'd be able to cheer him up.

"Um, I'm not very hungry; can you please take me back to sickbay?" he said, feeling very uncomfortable about being in the presence of so many strange people; although he immediately thought Guinan was nice, even though he realised she wasn't human.

"What's made you so unhappy Nigel? Captain Picard was telling me a little while ago that you were settling down and enjoying some holoprograms" she said, noting that Nigel just looked down at the table and didn't reply.

"Tell me what's wrong; I'm a good listener, my people are known for it!" she said, tousling Nigel's hair, just like his mother and sometimes his brother, use to.

"I was just getting to know my parents again and having a nice conversation with my brother, when Data shut down the program" Nigel said, looking at Guinan, hoping she didn't think he was being childish.

"Oh I see" she said, realising that Data would have only done that if he thought that Nigel had spent long enough on the Holodeck and needed a bit of reality.

"Nigel you'll be able to see them again tomorrow, don't you think it would be a good idea to meet some real people; you're going to be on the Enterprise for a while so you should try and make some friends" she said, taking hold of Nigel's hand.

"I suppose I should but I was so enjoying talking to my mum and dad again" Nigel said, realising how silly that must sound to Guinan because, of course, he was just talking about characters in a holoprogram, not real flesh and blood.

Nigel, I understand how you feel, but I really do think you'll benefit from socialising with some of the crew, they've all heard about you and many of them have expressed a wish to meet you" Guinan said, looking around the room. "Geordi La Forge, who's our chief engineer and Deanna Troi, the ship's counsellor, are wonderful people; they're having lunch together over there" Guinan said, pointing to a table at the other side of the room. "I'm sure you'll enjoy talking with them as Deanna's empathic, which is what makes her such a wonderful friend and Geordi's a great guy too; he's really good company and very easygoing" Nigel didn't respond; he just gave them a glance and then looked at the table again, the reality of his situation hitting him now he was outside the fake world of the Holodeck

Guinan waved to the counsellor, who was a very petite, stunningly beautiful woman, with long dark hair flowing down to her waist. She looked completely human but, in fact, she was half Betazoid, which is why she had the ability to sense emotions. She waved back at Guinan and nodded, indicating that she and Geordi would be over in a minute. Geordi, who was a rather attractive black man, quickly finished his dessert and walked with Deanna to Guinan and Nigel's table.

As soon as they got there Nigel noticed that Geordi was wearing a very unusual pair of 'spectacles' and wondered if he was actually another alien. This time though, Nigel was wrong, as Geordi was, in fact, from Earth; he'd, unfortunately, been born blind and the 'spectacles' or more correctly, the visor, enabled him to see! Guinan introduced Nigel to Deanna and Geordi, explaining that he was the young man from 21st century Earth and added that he was feeling a little down at the moment which, of course, Deanna already knew.

"Would you mind staying with him for a few minutes while I get him some food?" Guinan asked, leaving before they could answer.

"How are you finding things on the Enterprise Nigel?" Deanna asked, sensing Nigel's nervousness at being in the room with so many different species. Geordi immediately added, noticing how worried Nigel looked "Yeah, I remember when I first came aboard I was anxious about everything, but a couple of days later I felt right at home."

"It's nice to meet you both but there's no need for you to babysit me; I'll be leaving in a few minutes" Nigel said, hoping they didn't think he was being rude.

"Nigel you have to eat and Guinan's gone to get you something; so it would be impolite to leave right now" Deanna said, smiling at the handsome young man sat in front of her, thinking if she'd been nearer his age she'd have enjoyed cheering him up in a more adult way! As it was though, she sensed he needed a mother more than a girlfriend and asked how he was getting along with Beverly.

"She's been very kind to me, I like her a lot" he said, shyly. At that moment Guinan came back with a plate of what looked remarkably like English style fish and chips, the smell causing Nigel to notice he actually was hungry! He was soon tucking into his meal and felt a lot more cheerful when he'd finished.

Nigel chatted with Deanna and Geordi for about an hour and explained what his life was like as a teaching assistant and relic hunter. Deanna immediately sensed Nigel's love for his boss and felt sorry for him as she was fully aware of who Sydney was destined to marry, having discussed the situation with the captain. They were amazed by some of the stories Nigel told, especially his accounts of finding Buddha's bowl, the amazing Mochica vessel and the horrible doll with ruby eyes; which he and Sydney discovered in an Aztec pyramid. Deanna sensed that everything Nigel told them about those hunts was true and guessed that a lot of the strange things that occurred in relation to those relics, must have had alien connections!

Even though Nigel, obviously, still wanted to go home, he now considered the Enterprise wasn't such a bad place to be. He'd met some really interesting and intelligent people and, as Guinan said, he could still go back to the Holodeck tomorrow to see his parents and to finish the conversation with Preston; who was a lot nicer to him than his real brother had been when he was younger!

Guinan came back to the table again and immediately noticed how much happier and content Nigel was. As soon as Nigel saw her he gave her one of his really charming smiles and said "thanks for my lunch Guinan, it was fantastic! I haven't eaten fish and chips as good as that since I was a boy and went to Brighton on holiday."

"You're very welcome" she said, smiling back at him.

Having been advised by Jean Luc that Nigel was exceptionally intelligent, Guinan realised he was going to need more than the occasional intellectual conversation to stimulate his amazing brain. Therefore, being the helpful person that she was, she decided to find something that might interest him.

"Do you still want to go back to sickbay Nigel, or would you like to watch the game going on over there?" she asked, pointing to a table a little way off, where two very serious looking men, with shiny black hair and rather pointy ears, were playing chess. Nigel looked across and saw, to his amazement, that the chess board was on several tiers, rather than a flat board, and was completely fascinated by it, just as Guinan had hoped.

"I'd actually like to play a game if there's another chess set like that anywhere" Nigel said, looking at Guinan.

"I don't think it's quite the same game as you're used to Nigel, it can take a long time to learn to play properly" she replied, noticing how enthusiastic Nigel looked.

"I'm quite a fast learner and that looks quite challenging" Nigel said, looking over at the chess board again.

"Are you sure Nigel?" Guinan asked, knowing full well what he'd say.

"Yes please, um… do you play Guinan?" he asked, hoping she did.

"I'm a little busy at the moment but Deanna could teach you, I do have anothertri-dimensional chess set somewhere" she said, looking as if she was thinking about where she'd put it.

Nigel looked at Deanna who could see how excited he was about learning to play.

"Come on then Nigel, sit down here and I'll explain the rules" Deanna said, as Guinan went off to find the second chess set. He listened very closely as Deanna explained how to play and he soon realised how different it was from the game he played at home; although it didn't sound that difficult to him.

"Is that it then?" Nigel asked, as Deanna appeared to have explained everything.

"Yes it is; would you like me to go over it again with you?" Deanna asked

"No, I can remember what you said; can we play a game now please" Nigel asked, looking at the amazing looking chess board that Guinan had placed on the table. Deanna was rather surprised that Nigel thought he'd be able to play after hearing the rules only once, but she sensed he was confident enough to play. She set up the board and they started the game; however, she soon realised he'd grasped everything she'd told him, as within half an hour; he'd won the game!

"Thanks for teaching me Deanna, I really enjoyed it, can we play again another time please?" Nigel asked, getting up from the table.

"That would be very nice, you're a natural… so where are you off to now Nigel?" Deanna asked.

"I'd like to find Doctor Crusher; I haven't seen her since I got up this morning, could one of you please take me back to sickbay?" Nigel asked; looking at Deanna and Geordi, hoping one of them would help.

"Hasn't the captain organised some quarters for you yet?" Deanna asked, looking rather surprised.

"Um, no I'm still sleeping in sickbay, but I don't mind, Doctor Crusher has been so kind to me" Nigel said, wondering what it would be like to have a room of his own on board an incredible ship like this.

Having seen how quickly Nigel picked up the rules of tri-dimensional chess, Geordi was completely astounded and decided he'd like to get to know Nigel better.

"How would you like a tour of the engine room Nigel?" Geordi asked "I could take you there first and then back to sickbay."

"Um that would be very interesting Geordi, yes please" Nigel said, forgetting all about Beverly for the moment. He said goodbye to Deanna and Guinan and followed Geordi out of Ten Forward and into the turbolift.

"Engineering" Geordi said, and the turbolift speedily took them to deck 36, where engineering was located.

Immediately upon arrival Nigel looked absolutely astounded and tried to take everything in. He'd never been in an engine room of any kind before, so in his wildest imagination, he couldn't have pictured this! The first thing he saw was the warp core, which Geordi explained was the ship's engine, which allowed the Enterprise to move many times faster than the speed of light. The warp core was actually housed separately; in a room twice the height of all the other rooms. It was so tall; the top section could only be accessed by walkways, which were situated half way up the very high walls. Nigel was stunned by the incredible illuminated engine, which pulsed continuously; it was just so impressive!

The next thing Nigel saw was a large table in the centre of the room, which Geordi advised was the Master Systems Display, which he jokingly referred to as the pool table! On the surface of the table were some strange illuminated shapes, in a variety of colours, which the chief engineer explained was a detailed overview of the Enterprise. He pointed out to Nigel where the various rooms were located on the overview and his young visitor was surprised at how enormous the ship actually was.

Mounted on the walls of the engine room was the Master Situations display, which provided a detailed monitoring overview of the ship's status which, at that moment, was very quiet, as the Enterprise was just hiding behind the moon.

Geordi, who was very proud of the engine room, explained very basically what the various pieces of equipment did. Nigel understood quite a lot about the computers but not, of course, about how warp speed works! The chief engineer was amazed; however, at just how much information Nigel absorbed and decided to show his young visitor how to make some minor adjustments to the ships systems. Nigel was soon able to make some slight alterations, although Geordi watched him closely in case he made a mistake. However, the accuracy of Nigel's adjustments greatly impressed Geordi who wished Nigel was staying on board permanently, as he'd have liked to have had the opportunity to train him on some of the consoles and, of course, because he really like him.

"Hey Nigel, I'll have nothing to do if I teach you anymore" Geordi jokingly remarked "I'd better take you back to sickbay, otherwise you'll have my job!" he laughed, as he motioned to the door so that Nigel would lead the way out.

"It was really amazing Geordi, thanks for showing me everything" Nigel said, hoping that everyone else he meets on the ship is as nice as the chief engineer.

Even though Nigel was far brighter than your average person, Geordi was certain that the knowledge he'd gained by visiting engineering could not be used in any way to alter the future. The fact was; things were so advanced in the engine room that people of the 21st century couldn't even imagine them, never mind make them. Therefore, he felt it was perfectly safe to show Nigel the warp core and associated systems, even if Nigel was returned home with his memory fully intact.

When they reached sickbay they noticed Beverly was reading from a hand-held computer, with a small screen. Nigel said goodbye to Geordi and hello to Beverly and went over to his bed to lie down. The doctor immediately put away her little computer and came over to see him.

"Have you had an enjoyable time sweetie?" she asked, smiling kindly at him.

"Yes I did, I've had an amazing day! I got to see my parents' and even though they were only part of a holoprogram, they seemed so real!" Nigel said, forgetting about how upset he'd been when he was taken off the Holodeck. "I got to meet Data, Guinan, Deanna and, of course, Geordi… they're all such nice people. Data scared me when I first saw him on the Bridge, but I know he's a good guy now, although he can be a bit strict!"

"I'm sure they all liked you too" Beverly said, thinking what a wonderful young man Nigel was. Deanna had already reported Nigel's victory with the chess game to her and she was very surprised that he hadn't mentioned it.

"So what else did you do today, Nigel?" she asked, waiting to see if he would start bragging about winning the game, but hoping that he wouldn't.

"Well in Ten Forward I got to eat the best fish and chips I've had in years, I played a game of chess with Deanna and, of course, I had a tour of engineering with Geordi, that's where I've just come from" Nigel said, hoping Beverly didn't have any problem with any of that.

"That's excellent Nigel, now I've got some news for you that I'm sure you'll be glad to hear; Captain Picard has allocated you some quarters which are usually reserved for ambassadors and other visiting dignitaries. They're really luxurious, so if you'd like to follow me I'll show you where they are" Beverly said, feeling as impressed as Geordi by Nigel's modest behaviour. Of course, Nigel was perfectly capable of showing off to get a pretty girl's attention; but not just because he'd done something that others considered to be clever.

They walked along a couple of corridors, and then through a door where Nigel found himself in a beautiful room with windows almost as big as the ones in Ten Forward. The living area was quite large and was furnished with a blue leather sofa, a desk and several storage cabinets, along with a round glass table and four transparent plastic chairs. The colour scheme was light blue, with same wood panelling on one wall, which matched the wood on the desk.

"It's really nice doctor, is there a library nearby so that I can get some books to read?" Nigel asked, remembering he saw one on the overview of the ship, on the 'pool table' in engineering.

"Nigel I'm sorry but you aren't permitted to have access to the library or, I'm afraid, to the computers, at least without supervision. It's only because you might inadvertently read something that you mustn't know about the future; I think the captain's already explained how dangerous that can be. It'll be no problem getting books from your own time though; are there any you particularly want?" Beverly asked, hoping he would be reasonable and not kick up a fuss.

"I understand Doctor" Nigel said, trying to find something to write a list on. Beverly picked up another one of those small hand-held computers, advising it was called a PADD, or personal access display devise, and used to access the library. Once she'd done that Nigel told her what books he'd like and she touched the display a few times and said "if you wait a couple of minutes your books will be here." Sure enough, a few minutes later, they were 'beamed' to his quarters. Nigel stood there for a good ten seconds just staring at the pile of books with his mouth agape, hardly believing what he'd just witnessed.

Beverly noticed the surprised look on his young face and said "Nigel, you'll get used to all these things eventually."

"How did the books get here doctor? It's amazing" he said, picking up the book on the top of the pile. "These are exactly what I wanted, thank you so much."

"They were beamed here using our transporter system and you're most welcome Nigel" she said. Nigel knew Beverly wasn't about to explain to him how things were beamed from one place to another, so he didn't ask again, realising it was simply another thing that people on the Enterprise took for granted.

"Now let me show you how the sonic shower works and the other facilities in the bathroom" Beverly said, taking him through a door at one end of the room. The bathroom was mostly white with some wood panelling and the lighting was very bright. The doctor explained how everything worked but Nigel wasn't keen on the shower, he'd have much preferred to use water; not vibrations, which is what the sonic shower used to remove dirt!

"Sweetie, you'll soon be using the shower like you've used it all your life, so don't worry, and I'm sure you'll have no problem with the other things in the bathroom. As for the lighting, all you have to say is lights on, lights off, dim lights etc and your room will be illuminated just how you like it; it's all run by a computer. Now, go and look at your bedroom; the door's there" she said, pointing to the other end of the room.

Nigel walked in; noticing that most of the room was a cream colour, although the bed covers were dark green. He walked over to his bed and, to his amazement, noticed his little white polar bear was on the pillow! Preston had bought it for him when he was a baby and even though he and Nigel had fallen out over the years, Nigel had always kept the bear with him except, of course, on relic hunts, as he'd have been devastated if he'd lost it!

"Doctor! Where did you get my bear from!" Nigel shrieked with joy; remembering he always kept it on his bedside cabinet in his apartment. He suddenly felt rather embarrassed, believing Beverly must think he's so childish having a toy bear at his age.

"It isn't your actual bear Nigel; it's just one I replicated for you. I used a photograph of you as a child; you were wearing your boy scout's uniform and your bear was on the bed beside you; that's how I managed to get it replicated so accurately. I realise how fond you are of it and I thought it might be nice, now you have a room of your own, to have something familiar in it" Beverly said, noticing Nigel was actually blushing, so she changed the subject. "Oh yes, before I forget, there's an alarm right by your bed for you to use any time you feel nervous or worried; just press the button and I'll be here in a couple of minutes, alright?"

"Yes, thanks doctor, um… I wish I had some of the things from this room in my little apartment, particularly the replicator" Nigel said, smiling as he looked around the room, hoping the doctor hadn't noticed how red he was and wondering how she and the captain had gotten a copy of that photograph and knew so much about him. He recalled hearing the captain and Beverly mention reading his profile and guessed they got it from the ship's database, although he couldn't imagine why they'd have that photo or such in depth personal information about him in it.

Beverly then pleased him even more by giving him his own combadge. He already knew how to use it, having seen several members of the crew communicating with each other using one. He put it on his sweater, tapped it and said "Bailey to Crusher" she laughed at him as he continued looking around the room; obviously feeling like a kid in a candy store!

Just before Beverly left she said to Nigel "you know when you slept in sickbay I gave you something to help you sleep at night."

"Yes I know" Nigel replied.

"Well sweetie, now that you've been on board for a little while, and have your own room, I'd like to see if you can sleep without it. You should try having a warm glass of milk before you retire but, of course, if you really find it difficult to sleep or, as I said before, if you feel insecure; just press the alarm, OK?" the doctor said, hoping she wasn't being a little premature with this, after all it wasn't that long ago that Nigel was terrified of everything. He appeared to be perfectly happy about things now, although he was actually only half listening to what she was saying; he was so excited about his incredible room.

"Thanks doctor, I'll be fine, see you later" he said, as she turned and left him to enjoy his luxurious quarters.

He immediately went back into his bedroom and picked up his polar bear, which caused reality to strike again, as he remembered what Jean Luc had said about Sydney and Preston. He thought about what they might be doing back on Earth and felt quite upset. However, not being able to do a thing about it, he refused to allow his brother to spoil his day and began reading one of the books he'd asked for. The one he chose was very rare and he'd never been able to find a copy at home, so that soon took his mind off Preston.

When Dr Crusher got back to sickbay she suddenly recalled, from Nigel's autobiography, that he'd suffered with nightmares for many years. She tried to remember the details and believed that she'd read they'd more or less stopped by the time he was 23; as he'd had some sort of therapy. She was, therefore, hoping he wouldn't have a recurrence now that he was on a starship, in a strange room, completely on his own and free of her special sleeping potion! She tried not to worry, realising Nigel would just call her if he needed help.

Picking up her PADD she continued looking through the documents that she'd started to read before Nigel came back from engineering. Those documents were vitally important if Nigel was going to be returned to Earth in the same brilliantly clever state that he'd left it!

**PLEASE REVIEW!**** In the next chapter you will find out how things progressed between Sydney and Preston, plus Nigel meets Worf and is shocked by Sydney!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows. **_

_**Just to let you know; Worf rarely shortens his words, a bit like Data**_

**CHAPTER FIVE**

What Beverly was reading, that was so important to Nigel, was his complete medical history, which she'd obtained from the vast database on board the Enterprise. So far she'd discovered that he'd been a relatively healthy child, although he was considered to be very small and underweight by the various doctors he'd seen during his early life and as a teenager; although there was a very short period when he was a baby that he'd been quite chubby. He'd had some broken bones, a few cuts and scrapes and the usual childhood illnesses suffered by children in the 21st century; he'd also had yellow fever at the age of 21, was allergic to horse hair and had middle ear syndrome.

Beverly wanted to make sure she knew everything about Nigel's health, thus ensuring she could be confident it was safe to put him through the process to erase his recent memories. She really cared about him and, as time consuming as it was, she made sure she was very thorough. Luckily nothing that would cause any difficulty had shown up in the first set of notes that she'd read earlier; nor had anything, so far, in this later attempt at completing the task. However, as it was getting late, she decided she'd put her PADD away and finish the job in the morning, after a good night's sleep; ensuring that tiredness would not cause her to miss something vital!

That night, as she was sleeping, she was suddenly awoken by a call from Nigel, who was very distressed, having had exactly what she'd hoped he was free of; a nightmare. She immediately went to see him, wiped his face, and asked what he'd dreamt. It turned out it was about Worf coming into his room and attacking him! Beverly realised that the only way to ensure he didn't have any further bad dreams about the Klingon, or any of the other unusual looking aliens on board the ship, was to ask Worf to come to Nigel's quarters and talk to him.

Nigel hated the idea at first, but then agreed, as he trusted Beverly's judgement and certainly didn't want a repeat of the dream he's just had! He'd suffered with nightmares most his life because of the things that Preston had done to him when he was a little boy, and after their parents had died; and because of the treatment he'd received at boarding school and the things that had happened to him there. In the last year though, and more so in the last six months; his dreams had become almost normal, which although he'd had help from a doctor, he put down to the fact that he and his brother had been on good terms. Of course, it was quite possible that thinking about what Preston might be doing with Sydney partially caused this horrible dream!

Beverly tapped her combadge "Crusher to Worf" she said, a slight sense of urgency in her voice.

"What can I do for you doctor" Worf replied.

"If you're not doing anything too crucial would you come to Nigel Bailey's quarters and talk to him for a few minutes? You know how he reacted to you on the Bridge, well he's not met you properly yet and…. well could you just come and see him?" Beverly said, not wanting to embarrass Worf or Nigel.

"On my way doctor" Worf said, sounding annoyed.

Beverly looked at Nigel and asked "was it only Worf that you dreamt about?"

"Well sort of, I dreamt that he attacked me and then Sydney pulled him off; she's an incredible woman and an amazing fighter; she always protects me because I'm just no good at that. In my dream though, Worf over powered and strangled her and then came after me again. That's when I woke up and called you, sorry…. I feel so stupid" Nigel said, looking down at the bed and blushing.

At that moment Worf marched into Nigel's quarters; walking directly into the bedroom where he stood towering over Nigel, looking to the young man like a demon!

"What has come over you that you need to be formally introduced to me tonight, young man!" Worf asked, looking quite annoyed "could you not have waited until tomorrow morning!"

"I, I…" Nigel stammered; tears pooling in his eyes and finding it difficult to speak. Worf was just so large and looked so angry, the ridges on his forehead appearing even deeper as he frowned and looked down at Nigel.

Beverly quickly stepped in, noticing how panic-stricken Nigel was.

"Worf! Please! He's never seen a Klingon, or any other species before coming aboard the Enterprise. He's had a very frightening nightmare about you! I just thought if he met you he'd see you're no threat and won't hurt him; Worf….. don't prove me wrong!" she said, looking quite upset.

Worf looked at Nigel who was visibly shaking and had almost fallen off the other side of his bed trying to get as far away from him as possible.

"I am sorry Nigel; I will not hurt you" Worf said, as he smiled and stretched his large hand across to Nigel who, very apprehensively, took it and pulled himself forward a little. "I will have to take you onto the Holodeck tomorrow where I can teach you to fight with batleth and train you to become a warrior, you will be afraid of nothing then."

Nigel looked a little taken aback and wondered what exactly a batleth was, although he guessed it must be a weapon of some sort.

Beverly saw the expression on Nigel's face and immediately spoke for him again "Worf I don't think he's quite ready to be a warrior, perhaps you could just take him for a walk in a nice location on the Holodeck and get to know him." She couldn't imagine for one second that Nigel would enjoy learning to use a weapon to maim someone; although she considered he'd probably like to see it. Having read Nigel's profile, which Data had compiled before the young man was brought on board, she knew he had a gentle nature and completely abhorred violence, although he occasionally had to defend himself when Sydney was already fighting off an adversary.

"Sir, what is a batleth?" Nigel asked, trying to appear more confident, although inside he felt quite woozy.

"It is a Klingon sword of honour, I will show you one tomorrow; meet me outside Holodeck 2 at 09.00 hours; there is still time for you to grow up to become a warrior. I have to leave now, I have duties to attend to" Worf said, looking at how tiny Nigel looked compared to him.

"Um, I don't think I'm going to grow anymore Sir, I'm 24; I haven't grown since I was about 18. I would, um, like to see the batleth though" Nigel said, hoping he'd feel brave enough in the morning to be alone with Worf; realising Beverley would probably be too busy to stay with him.

"I will see you tomorrow then Nigel, I hope you sleep more peacefully now" Worf said, as he left the room to go back to the Bridge.

Once Worf had gone, Beverly tucked Nigel into bed, like he was a little boy and said "see you in the morning sweetie, goodnight."

"Night doctor; thanks" Nigel replied, turning over on his side and thinking, she's so like Nanny Wright; that thought making him realise just how far away his beloved nanny and, of course, Sydney was.

The next morning Nigel got up at the normal time but, obviously, felt pretty tired, having taken quite a while to go back to sleep the previous night. Still feeling a little embarrassed about his behaviour, he forced himself to ask Beverly if he could join her for breakfast, hoping she wasn't cross with him; or feeling tired herself. Of course, Beverly was just fine and told him to come to sickbay as she was she eating there that morning, enabling her to complete an important task immediately she'd finished.

As soon as Nigel walked in Beverley noticed how tired he looked and told him to go back to bed for a couple of hours. Nigel didn't want to; he felt the need to prove to himself that he was brave enough to meet Worf alone on the Holodeck. He wanted to see the batleth, even if he didn't want to fight with it, believing it must be an amazing weapon if someone like Worf used it! Beverly didn't insist that he got more sleep right then, but told him to go to bed early that night. Realising that everything she said was purely out of concern for his wellbeing, he ignored the fact that she was treating him like a child and gave her a big hug, thanking her for the kindness she'd shown him since he'd arrived on the ship; especially the previous night. Beverley smiled widely and told Nigel he was most welcome.

Suddenly, as Nigel ate his breakfast, he heard "Worf to Nigel Bailey!" coming from his combadge; causing him to almost jump out of his skin.

"Answer Worf Nigel" Beverly said; "you know how to do it."

Nigel tapped his badge "Ni, Nigel here Sir"

"You are late! Meet me on Holodeck 2 immediately!" Worf said, the tone of his voice sounding quite harsh.

"What time is it doctor!" Nigel asked; realising it must be after nine; which he recalled was when he was supposed to meet his new 'friend'.

"It's just nine now sweetie, don't worry, it'll only take you a little while to get to the Holodeck" Beverly said, noticing Nigel looked worried.

"Please doctor, would you mind coming with me" he said with a pleading look on his face, not feeling one bit brave anymore!

"Alright, come on then" she said, smiling kindly, understanding his concern, as Worf had sounded rather annoyed.

They walked to the turbolift and soon reached Holodeck 2, where Worf had been waiting for a couple of minutes. He was holding a very sharp and unusual looking sword that Nigel looked at very warily.

"Good morning" Worf said, to them both, appearing to have calmed down a little.

"Good morning Sir" Nigel said, politely, trying not to panic "sorry I'm late, it won't happen again Sir"

"That is alright Nigel, you are forgiven….now once I have set up the holoprogram I will demonstrate how to use the batleth, that is what this is" Worf said, holding up the sword that was nothing like any weapon Nigel had seen before. It was large and half crescent shaped, with two handles in the middle, rather than at one end and was, obviously, very sharp! As they entered the Holodeck Worf began pressing buttons to set up the holoprogram and then led Nigel and Beverley; who'd decided to stay to give Nigel moral support, into a beautiful wooded area.

Nigel began to feel a little happier as he followed Worf through the trees and into a clearing, where he noticed some huge boulders that, for some reason, looked familiar.

Worf began to wave the sword around, slowly at first, but then he built up the speed getting faster and faster as the demonstration progressed, which looked very impressive; Nigel actually enjoyed it and applauded him. Of course he was not using the batleth against an enemy here but, obviously, if he was, those moves would have been lethal!

After about ten minutes Beverly noticed that Nigel was looking far more relaxed and decided the best thing to do now was to let him and Worf bond, knowing that as big and as angry as Worf appeared to be, he would never actually harm Nigel.

"I'm going back to sickbay now sweetie, enjoy your day…. be careful with him Worf, remember, he's not Klingon!" she said, hoping Nigel wouldn't panic.

Before Nigel could say 'please stay a bit longer' she'd already gone and he began to feel quite anxious again; after all, he was with this huge alien who had a weapon that could kill an elephant with one swipe!

"Do you like it here Nigel?" Worf asked, believing that he would.

"Yes I do, it's nice… it's, it's the area at the back of Trinity College, isn't it Sir! Nigel said; suddenly remembering exactly where he'd seen the boulders before; then wishing he really was back home and not inside the Holodeck. He felt a little homesick as he looked around and wondered if this holoprogram would enable him to go to the college and visit Sydney.

"That is correct Nigel; there are photographs of this area in some books in the library, which is how Data managed to get the layout so precise. Now young man, I will show you a move that I use when I have to kill an enemy with my batleth" Worf said, lifting up the weapon but noticing Nigel was looking away.

"What are you looking at Nigel; pay attention!" Worf said, angrily.

Nigel jumped! "Um, sorry Sir, I was looking to see if Professor Fox was around" Nigel said, now paying close attention to the weapon for fear of upsetting Worf further.

Worf nodded and then demonstrated the move, which rather turned Nigel's stomach as he imagined Worf cutting off an opponent's head! Once he'd finished the demonstration Worf offered the batleth to Nigel.

"Oh, no, no thank you Sir, I'll cut off my hand or foot! I'm just too clumsy to hold something like that. Um, you're very skilled with it Sir" Nigel added, hoping he wasn't offending the huge Klingon by refusing the sword.

"I have been using a batleth since I was a child; I can see you are no warrior but you have shown bravery just by being here. I did, in fact, bring you here to test your courage and I am pleased that you did not run away and you did not take the batleth from me just because you were afraid to refuse! Nigel Bailey, I would be honoured to have you as a friend" Worf said, extending his hand in friendship.

Nigel smiled and shook Worf's hand, which was huge compared to his and said "thank you Sir."

"We are friends now Nigel, you may call me Worf; now… what would you like to do next?" he asked, already knowing, more or less, what Nigel would say.

"Um, can we go and see if Professor Fox is in her office please Sir, um I mean Worf?" Nigel asked, with a pleading look on his face.

"I thought that is what you would want to do, but I will have to readjust the holoprogram as before we came in here I modified it, ensuring your boss was not included as a character; otherwise she would have thought you were being attacked when I was demonstrating the batleth! I will change it back now, and leave you alone, as I do not think you will want me around when you meet her; I am aware you have romantic feelings for the professor. It will only take a minute to change the program and then you can go and find her… pause program!" Worf said; noticing Nigel was blushing. The main reason that Nigel felt so embarrassed by what Worf had just said was because it occurred to him that a lot of people on board the ship seemed to know about his personal life, yet he knew nothing much about theirs.

Worf pressed some of the buttons to reset the holoprogram and then said to Nigel "when you have finished; just say 'end program', I have several matters to attend to on the Bridge now Nigel, so I will see you later."

Nigel said goodbye to Worf and then ran all the way to the ancient studies department and directly into Sydney's office. She was sitting at her desk, looking so beautiful in a very low cut top, her hair flowing and no spectacles. She looked up at him as he entered and gave him a huge smile.

"Hey Nige; where've you been darling? I've been waiting for you. Do you want to have lunch by the river…if you know what I mean?" she said, winking and looking at him seductively.

"Hi um Syd um, ye yes that would be nice" he stammered, blushing as he noticed how sexily she moved from behind her desk and then towards him. His eyes almost popped out of his head when she stood in front of him, took off her top, provocatively pushed out her beasts and then put on a clean blouse, buttoning it up to just above her waist! He tried hard not to look and blushed bright red; putting his hands over his eyes and turning his head to the side.

Of course, she'd done something like that on the first day they met and she quite often teased him to make him blush. However this somehow seemed different to him… and he suddenly thought; did she just call me darling! He wasn't sure how to handle the situation but decided to 'go with the flow' which was something Sydney was always telling him to do.

Just as he was thinking how sexy this Sydney was, she suddenly grabbed his hand and began to walk very quickly towards the side entrance of the college. Once outside she ran really fast; dragging Nigel behind her, who was wondering all the time what the rush was, as they were permitted an hour and a half for lunch, so there was plenty of time.

He soon found himself back at the place where Worf had been demonstrating the batleth and Sydney sat on the ground and patted it, indicating that Nigel should join her. He sat down and then led on his back with his arms crossed at the back of his head to support it. He looked up at the sky and thought, it's such a nice day; I wish I'd brought a book but at least I'm with Sydney again.

The next thing he knew Sydney leapt over to him, sat astride his thighs and pulled his trouser zipper right down! Nigel screamed "hey, what are you doing!" and giggled; as he tried to pull her hand away "stop it Syd! Stop it!" he screamed, continuing to laugh; thinking she was just having a bit of fun at his expense. Then she leaned forward and pressed her breasts onto his chest and began kissing him like they'd been lovers for years. She continued kissing him passionately, pulling at his hair and getting really carried away; telling him in between kisses, in no uncertain terms, just what she wanted! Nigel, being a man, had initially kissed her back, but then he realised…. his Sydney would never act this way towards him; this was just wrong! He began to panic and tried to get away, but this Sydney, just like the real one, was much stronger than him. Nigel struggled, managing to free his mouth and shouted "end program!" He felt so offended; this just wasn't his Sydney, she would never do this and besides, his Sydney was going to marry Preston, if she hadn't already!

Nigel realised, as he found himself led on the floor of the empty Holodeck, that Data and the captain had produced that particular holoprogram because they believed that was what he wanted! Of course, had he and Sydney actually been in a sexual relationship before he was abducted; that would probably have been the case! However they, obviously, knew that they weren't; which caused him to believe that they didn't actually understand him at all; otherwise, they'd have known that he took sex very seriously and that he most certainly wouldn't want to get his heart broken by a holographic projection when he was sent back to Earth!

He got up off the floor, dusted himself off and then; feeling quite upset and wanting to get out of there quickly, he rushed to the door; bumping directly into Data.

"Sorry Data" Nigel said, not really wanting to face him.

"Hello Nigel, are you alright" Data asked, noticing Nigel looked flushed and uncomfortable.

"Um, yes… I'm um…. fine, I'm just on my way back to my quarters" Nigel said, hoping Data wouldn't ask any questions about what he'd been doing.

"I see that you were running the holoprogram where Sydney is in love with you, I hope you liked it" Data said, noticing Nigel was beginning to perspire.

"Liked IT! Oh.. oh.. you mean the holoprogram! I, I guess I was a little shocked by it, the real Sydney would never have acted like that with me; I appreciate the work you put into the program though Data" Nigel said, still feeling a little shaky.

"Do not worry Nigel, as I told you before, there are several holoprograms; in most of them Professor Fox will behave like your boss, or like a big sister; that is the way she behaves towards you, is it not?" Data asked.

"Yes, I suppose she does really, I think right now though, that's all I can handle; I'm definitely not ready to be with the other Sydney!" he said smiling sheepishly; although starting to feel a bit better, realising Data wasn't judging him.

"Would you like me to set up another holoprogram for you" Data asked, realising Nigel still had some time left if he wanted to continue using the Holodeck.

"Um, yes, thanks Data, I may as well use up my quota of time now you're here to set things up. I guess I'd really like to see my mum and dad again, if that's OK, I won't stay too long, I promise" Nigel said, looking hopeful, thinking that this might be a way to take his mind off 'Sydney'.

"That will be no problem Nigel, I will set it to run for one hour, twenty seven minutes and nine seconds as you have already been on the Holodeck for one hour, two minutes and fifty one seconds; that should be sufficient for one day" Data said, making the necessary adjustments to enable a new holoprogram to be run. "I will see you later Nigel, goodbye."

In this second holoprogram, which had been previously paused at a certain point, Nigel found himself with his family in Green Park, London, where, in reality, he'd fed the ducks and geese many times when he was a child. Preston behaved a little like he had when he was 19, only he actually wanted to play football with Nigel, something the real Preston hadn't done willingly. It was so enjoyable kicking a ball around with his brother and talking with his parents, although he couldn't help but wish his mum and dad were really alive.

All too soon the program came to an end, just as Data said it would and Nigel left the Holodeck, bravely making his own way back to his quarters. He was successful in that, which rather pleased him, as it was the first time he'd done it alone. Once back in his room he took a sonic shower and read for the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon.

Back at Trinity College Preston was trying hard to settle into his new job; although he wasn't finding it easy as his students; who were formerly in his brother's class, kept asking him about Nigel and when he'd be returning. The problem was that Sydney, who was not prepared to entertain the idea that Nigel may never come back, had told them that he'd temporarily moved back to England and recommended Preston as his short term replacement! The constant reminders that Nigel was still missing deeply upset Preston and having to lie about it, made it worse.

Sydney, realising it was her white lie that was causing Preston so much heartache, felt rather guilty; although she simply couldn't face revealing the truth. She was, however, very supportive when the student's questioning got too much for Preston, sending him home with 'a migraine' rather than risk him breaking down in front of the class!

During those early months Sydney would often suggest to Preston that they go out after work to drown their sorrows and, once in a while, have dinner together. It was at those times that Sydney began to notice more things that Preston did that reminded her of Nigel, particularly when he was tipsy which, rather than upset her, she found quite comical.

Gradually, as time passed, Preston's initial group of students moved on and his mood brightened without their constant questioning, showing Sydney a different side of this character which, until then, had been hidden. He started to feel more positive about life and although, deep down, that terrible feeling of loss was still there, he began taking on all of the duties that Nigel had previously undertaken, including relic hunting; something which he'd previously felt unable to do.

Even though Preston was over six foot tall, he still needed protection from rival relic hunters, much the same as Nigel had most of the time. Sydney, of course, expected that and watched his back, believing he would soon learn to throw the odd punch or two! Regardless of Preston's inability to defend himself, she was delighted by the way he helped her in the field, as even though his knowledge of ancient history was not as extensive as hers or Nigel's, he still came up with some brilliant ideas and excellent translations and soon got used to being dirty! This was all the more impressive as, like Nigel; he would have preferred to spend his time in a quiet library.

Sydney found she enjoyed having Preston along; he was good company and although she'd noticed several similarities between him and Nigel; he wasn't painfully shy like his brother. Of course, she realised Nigel had had a very difficult childhood, having been sent away, by Preston, to a boys' only boarding school where his classmates were cruel, and a lot older than him. At school he had no friends, was sexually assaulted and was brutally caned; causing him physical scarring for life! From the age of 15 he'd spent five years at Oxford University, where his guardians, at the time, Professor and Mrs Bally, were religious, very strict and over protective. All of those things, but predominantly being left so badly scarred, caused Nigel to have intimacy issues, particularly with women, which Sydney, had discussed with him. She, therefore, understood Nigel's shyness and was even aware that Preston was partially responsible for it! Of course, she also knew that Nigel had, eventually, found it in his heart to forgive Preston when he was made aware of a disturbing period of time that his brother had gone through, following the death of their parents, which he ultimately received counselling for in recent years.

Preston showed no signs of being affected by his past, apart from desperately wanting to make things up to Nigel; which looked quite unlikely now, especially since it had been almost eight months since Nigel's disappearance and Cate Hemphill, who had periodically called to up-date them had, obviously, found nothing.

A further few months passed and Sydney, who'd not been on a date since Nigel went missing, was surprised and, quite frankly, thrilled when Preston came into work one morning and asked her out! She'd actually started noticing how charming and considerate he could be when they were on a hunt, and at other times, and had actually started fantasising about being in bed with him; especially since it had been so long since she'd had sex! Feeling the ways she did, she immediately agreed and even bought a new outfit for the occasion, Preston telling her to dress fancy as he had something special in mind.

To her delight she discovered he'd booked a table at an exclusive restaurant, which looked so beautiful with fresh cut flowers and pure white linen cloths on each table. They ordered dinner which was served on the most exquisite white bone china, with tiny blue flowers, the like of which Sydney had never seen before, causing her to wish she had a set like it; an unusual thought for someone like Sydney!

"Preston, this is really lovely, it's been such a long time since anyone has wined and dined me like this, thank you so much" Sydney said, smiling widely, the champagne that he'd ordered relaxing her as she looked into his eyes.

"You're most welcome Sydney, there's no one I'd rather be with than you; I'm just so sorry I took so long to ask you out, you know you really are quite beautiful" Preston said, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Why Preston, thank you" she said, fluttering her eyes, feeling uncharacteristically girly and wondering how the rest of the evening would turn out. She was not disappointed, as there was a live band playing gentle rhythmic music, which enabled them to dance and chat at the same time. Sydney felt so happy to be in the arms of a man again.

Preston took her home, kissed her passionately at the door and attempted to leave; however, she was not ready to be alone again just yet and asked him in for a nightcap. Of course, Preston couldn't refuse her and stayed the night where they made passionate love; Sydney not thinking at all of the consequences of spending the night with her employee.

They went out several times in quick succession after that, soon noticing what a good match they were, both now wishing they'd realised it sooner. Preston, who was only a year younger than Sydney, not only shared her love of ancient history but also her taste in music and movies.

Sydney loved going out with Preston and occasionally went to nightclubs with him, soon realising how easy it was to get in; not only because Preston bribed the doorman, but because he was, obviously, over 21. Sydney, in the past, had often taken groups of friends, including Nigel, out for the evening and sometimes ended up at a nightclub. On those occasions they'd have problems getting Nigel in if he had no ID with him; causing all round embarrassment as he tried to persuade the doorman he was old enough! Nigel had had the same problem on a few relic hunts and, therefore, started carrying a photocopy of his passport with him, enabling him to get into bars, clubs and other establishments where information, regarding the relic they were after, might be obtained.

It wasn't too long before Preston moved in with Sydney, although he still paid the rent on Nigel's apartment, which was close to Trinity, enabling him and Sydney use it when they stayed late at work, saving a long trek home.

Sydney and Preston were finally happy again; something that neither of them expected having both been so downhearted for such a long time. However, as so often happens when things are going too smoothly; something, or someone, threatens to spoil it! In their case it was the Dean, who decided to call Sydney into his office to ask if what he'd heard was true, that she and Preston were in a romantic relationship. Sydney was annoyed by the question, as she felt it was none of his business, but she still confirmed it was true. He then sarcastically reminded her of the college's policy that employees should not fraternise outside of the workplace! This was, of course, overlooked when a group of colleagues went out together, but it was not acceptable for a boss and employee! Realising the Dean was no idiot, she went on to advise him that she and Preston now come as a couple and if necessary they would leave the college! He immediately shot back, as Sydney hoped he would, that she shouldn't be so hasty; obviously being fully aware that Sydney, and her various assistants, over the years, had brought in millions of dollars for the college by finding relics and then selling or renting them to various museums. Looking pretty annoyed, but feeling Sydney wasn't bluffing, he grudgingly told her that he would think of a way to prevent their relationship from being a problem; Sydney, of course, felt pretty confident that that was the last she'd hear on that subject!

As she was walking from the Dean's office, towards her own, she suddenly brought to mind a relic hunt she'd been on, in Britain, less than a week before Nigel disappeared. She recalled that whilst on that hunt she couldn't stop thinking about what sex would be like with Nigel! She'd not said anything to him, although in her heart she really wanted to discuss it; those thoughts being so strong. However, she realised a sudden change in attitude towards him, particularly where sex was concerned, might ruin their relationship; she, therefore, decided to take it slowly. Up until that point she'd always thought of him as a kid; the eight year age gap and the fact that she was his boss being enough to keep those thoughts from her mind.

As she was mulling over the past, she blinked away the tears, as it suddenly occurred to her that the main reason she was so annoyed with Nigel, when he was reluctant to go with her to the Grand Canyon, was because she simply wanted him with her! She'd since, of course, tried to put those feelings behind her, believing that the chances of seeing Nigel again were slim and even slimmer that a romantic relationship would ever develop between them. She knew that what she had to do now was focus on her feelings for Preston, as it was too painful to think about Nigel.

It was only a few weeks after Sydney's visit to the Dean's office that she and Preston fully admitted to their colleagues, friends and family; that they were in love. A month after that they got engaged and set a date for the wedding, Preston having bought her the most stunningly beautiful diamond engagement ring!

Initially she'd been surprised that she'd fallen so deeply for the charming Englishman; who was nothing like her usual boyfriends. Of course, when she really thought about it, she would never have married any of them; they were just fun to be with until she found someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Preston, she was now convinced, was that man, although apart from relic hunting and teaching, she had little else in her life, having spent no time with any other men in over a year.

Prior to making any arrangements for the wedding, Sydney felt the need to be honest with Preston and made it very clear that, if she got pregnant, which she hoped she would, she'd continue teaching and relic hunting a few months after the birth, believing a good mother is a happy mother, who would give up her life for her child, but at the same time, was still a person in her own right! Preston reluctantly agreed, although he was secretly convinced that once she had a baby, she'd be quite happy to stay at home! He based this thought on the fact that most women, in his rather small circle of friends at home, had felt that way. Of course, he and Nigel were from an upper middleclass family and it was rare for women he knew to work once they'd started a family; although his own mother had worked as a lawyer when he and Nigel were children.

They also agreed that, after they married, Preston would continue to work at Trinity, as Sydney's teaching assistant; as he loved the work almost as much as she did and neither actually wanted to leave the college.

Realising they'd not given themselves an awful lot of time to look for a new home, prior to the wedding, they decided that, initially, they would still live in Sydney's house and then buy a new home together later on.

Having agreed their future plans Sydney then broke the news to her father, Randall Fox who, having met Preston a few times, had his reservations about their suitability. However, realising that Sydney was well over 21 and appeared to be blissfully happy; he kept his doubts to himself, hoping he was wrong.

Sydney hired a wedding planner to sort out all of the arrangements, as the ceremony was to take place at a beautiful church near Preston's home, in London.

The happy day soon came around and Sydney wore a beautiful pure white Calvin Klein wedding dress that made her look and feel like a million dollars. It was slim fitting with a low cut neckline and just a slight flair at the bottom of the skirt, allowing her to walk freely. There was one white lily on her right shoulder but otherwise the dress was plain. She had a simple white lily in her hair which she wore down, knowing that was how Preston preferred it. Her bouquet was mostly white lilies with a few tiny pale blue flowers, and leaves, which trailed down to a point, making the whole outfit look positively stunning.

She had five bridesmaids; Claudia and Karen, who were, of course, her past and present secretaries; Molly, who was a friend of hers from a finishing school she'd attended in Switzerland; Darcy, who was her best friend at boarding school and Jenny, who was her 26 year old stepmother!

Jenny's youth had, obviously, come as quite a shock to Sydney when her father introduced Jenny to her as his fiancée. However, that was actually a couple of years ago, when Randall had asked her and Nigel to help him find the statue of the Jade Empress, in China; which, of course, they found. It didn't take Sydney long after that to realise that Jenny was, in fact, really sweet, quite bright and just what her father needed; even if she did look like a Barbie doll!

The girls all wore pale blue dresses, the same colour as the tiny flowers in Sydney's bouquet, making them all look quite lovely.

Anthony Farquhar, a friend of Preston's from the British Museum, agreed to be his best man as; of course, the person he really wanted was still missing!

Randall gave Sydney away, although the entire time he walked her down the aisle he was wishing his little girl was marrying Nigel, whom he'd liked from the moment they'd met. He did actually like Preston but, in his eyes; nobody, apart from Nigel, would be right for his daughter.

The ceremony was wonderful and when Preston put the ring on Sydney's finger she smiled widely, thinking she'd never been so happy.

The reception was held at the Ritz Hotel, the ballroom looking quite amazing, having been newly decorated especially for the occasion. The circular tables were laid ready for the four course meal and friends of Preston's; who were members of the London Symphony Orchestra, whom Preston used to play with, performed throughout the afternoon and evening; Preston joining them at the piano for a few numbers.

The guest of honour was Louisa Wright, who was thrilled that, at long last, one of her boys had found true love, although she was rather taken aback, initially, to discover it was Sydney! Not that she disliked her, just the opposite, in fact; it was just that, a few years back, Nigel had talked to her so enthusiastically about Sydney, she felt he might be falling in love with his beautiful boss! Now, as she sat there listening to Preston's speech, she couldn't help but think how devastated Nigel would be if he turned up one day only to find his older brother had married Sydney. Immediately feeling upset by that thought, she forced herself to think about something else, or risk breaking down in tears.

After all of the speeches were finished Louisa stayed in her seat and watched Sydney and Preston dance. She thought how elegant and joyful they looked on this wonderful occasion and hoped they'd always be that happy. She was just about to get up to stretch her legs when a rather tall man, with dark hair, a beard and moustache came and sat down beside her; introducing himself as William Ryker. They chatted for a while about the happy couple; William saying he was a friend of Preston's who was, unfortunately, attending the wedding alone. He seemed to know a lot about the bride and groom and then, without really thinking, he mentioned that he knew Preston had a younger brother who'd gone missing. Immediately he said that, he wished he hadn't, as he saw Louisa suddenly look so sad. She'd really been trying hard not to think too much about Nigel, but she was missing him terribly; he'd been the light of her life since he was born and there was absolutely nothing she wouldn't do for him, including give up her own life if she thought that would bring him home safely. Not wishing to cause Louisa any further anguish, William took her hand, squeezed it, and said very gently "Louisa, I believe that miracles happen, never give up hope, he'll come home" and with that he kissed her hand, smiled and left the table; leaving Louisa feeling strangely comforted by his words.

Back on the Enterprises Nigel began to settle into a sort of routine. He started eating in Ten Forward with various members of the crew, particularly Geordi, Worf and Irishman, Miles O'Brien.

One day, while Nigel was having lunch with Miles, who was the ships transporter chief, they discussed their families; Nigel advising that he and his brother were all that was left of his. Realising that Nigel was feeling homesick and needed cheering up; Miles jokingly claimed he was a descendent of King Brian Boru of Ireland! Upon hearing that Nigel laughed, explaining that he and Sydney Fox had actually found Brian Boru's crown on one of their relic hunts, in 2001! This very much impressed Miles who then went on to say that he'd seen the crown in a museum in Dublin, about three years ago! Nigel was overjoyed and completely amazed, realising that a relic that he and Sydney had found, hundreds of years ago, was still, more or less, where they'd left it!

Miles thought Nigel was a really interesting and highly intelligent young man and Nigel liked Miles too; especially when he learned that the Irishman could play the cello. Upon discovering that, Nigel asked Miles to join him and Preston on the Holodeck; enabling the three of them to put on a show for Mr and Mrs Bailey; he and Preston, obviously, playing the piano. Nigel, who was looked upon as a child in that particular holoprogram, introduced Miles as a teacher from his school as, even though his parents were just holographic projections, they'd been programmed not to trust strangers with their children!

To keep his mind alert, Nigel played a lot of tri-dimensional chess with Deanna and several other members of the crew and won game after game! He really enjoyed it and found chess and visits to his family on the Holodeck, helped to keep his mind off Sydney and what might be happening on Earth.

He also loved to sit in his quarters to watch the stars and the Moon, thinking how amazing it would be to travel to some of those places. He couldn't actually see the Earth when he looked out the windows, as the ship stayed behind the Moon all of the time, as far as he knew; but he found it all so totally fascinating.

Nigel was usually permitted to spend up to three hours a day on the Holodeck, although Data tended to limit him to two and a half hours, believing he should spend more time with 'real' people. The fact was, Nigel really enjoyed the company of his holofamily and would have stayed there all day, if he'd been left to his own devices!

He did try and visit Sydney once more, but only the version that was supposed to be like the real Sydney. Unfortunately, that made him depressed as he immediately remembered what Captain Picard said must happen between his beautiful boss and his brother; which he was powerless to prevent.

The Preston he met on the Holodeck, being so young, did not upset him at all in relation to what might be happening on Earth; probably because he was nothing like the Preston he knew as a man, causing him to think of them as two separate people.

He never once considered visiting the sexy 'Sydney' again, thinking that, perhaps, Data knew something about her that he didn't really want to know; like the way she behaved with her many boyfriends!

One evening, as it was approaching dinner time, Nigel put down the book he'd been reading and got ready to go to Ten Forward. However, before he made it to the door Captain Picard arrived, looking very official.

"Um, hello Sir, is there something I can do for you?" Nigel asked; not being able to hide his nervousness at seeing the expression of the Captain's face.

"Yes Nigel, there is" Jean Luc said, suddenly looking quite sad. "As you're probably aware, you've been on board the ship now for about six weeks and well, I'm glad to report that everything on Earth is now as it should be…. what I need you to do now is come with me to the observation lounge where I have something very important to discuss with you."

"What is it Sir, have I done something wrong?" Nigel asked; feeling rather apprehensive and wondering what punishment he'd receive if he had.

"No Nigel, you've done nothing wrong, but I need to talk to you; don't look so worried, just follow me" he said, leading the way.

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**In the next chapter you will find out what happened when Nigel returned to Earth and met up with Sydney again!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.**_

**Information for Relic Hunter fans: An away team is a group of people assembled to go on missions to other planets. They are invisibly beamed through thin air and once they arrive on the planet they materialise again looking and feeling exactly as they were when they left!**

**CHAPTER SIX**

Nigel followed the captain into the turbolift where he looked at Jean Luc's face, realising that he really did look quite unhappy but was, obviously, trying to disguise it. He wondered; bearing in mind the captain had confirmed that things were as they should be on Earth, if he was now going to be sent home, or whether there was something else he was about to learn which would prevent that. He felt quite anxious; although he trusted Jean Luc and believed he had his best interests at heart, even if he had allowed his brother to steal Sydney!

Realising that Nigel was rather shy and because he could tell how nervous he was, Jean Luc wanted to prepared him for what he was about to face and said very calmly, as they stood in the turbolift, "when you go into the observation lounge Nigel you'll see quite a few people there; most of them you'll probably know, but perhaps one or two, you won't. Now I don't want you to worry about that at all, we just need to talk to you and explain a few things." Strangely, that little speech had the opposite effect and put Nigel completely on edge; he was now dreading it!

As soon as they reached the observation lounge Jean Luc walked directly in, although Nigel was, naturally, hesitant and dragged slightly behind. He immediately noticed that Data, Worf, Deanna, Beverly, Geordi, Guinan, Miles, and one other man, were sitting around a large oval shaped table, obviously waiting for them. Upon seeing his friends he felt slightly relieved, although he still felt uneasy about the meeting itself. The Captain walked to the head of the table and stood there; leaving Nigel, who looked quite bewildered, stood at the other end. Jean Luc looked at the assembled group, smiled, and said quite confidently "I think you all know Nigel, except for you Number One…. Nigel, this is Commander William Ryker, he is my first officer."

Nigel looked at the commander who immediately got up from the table and confidently walked towards him smiling widely. Nigel shook his hand and instantly got the strangest feeling he'd actually met him before; although he couldn't think where, or even when that might have been, but he certainly looked familiar. Of course, Nigel realised that lots of people have similar looks and considered, in this case, he must be confusing him up with someone else. However, he couldn't help but wonder; bearing in mind he'd been on board the Enterprise for six weeks, why he'd never been introduced to him before. Ryker returned to his seat, and stood there next to the captain who was now sitting at the head of the table.

"Nigel Commander Ryker has been very busy for the past few weeks taking care of things on Earth" Jean Luc said, as if he'd just read Nigel's mind "he actually attended your brother's wedding and spoke to Louisa Wright while he was there."

"Oh" Nigel replied, hanging his head "I suppose that must have been nice…. what!" he suddenly perked up and said to Ryker "you spoke to my nanny Sir! Was she alright? I haven't seen her for such a long time."

"Yes Nigel, she's fine, missing you terribly, of course, and the wedding, well that was wonderful; the bride looked stunning" Ryker replied, as he motioned to a chair to the right of Jean Luc. Nigel sat down directly opposite Ryker, who poured out a glass of water for him.

"Now then, let's get things started" Jean Luc continued, trying hard to smile "Nigel, I know you're wondering why you're here… well it's for something I hope you're going to be very happy about; we're going to send you home."

"Oh… that's good Sir, I suppose, but really, apart from wanting to see my nanny and a few other people, I've got no reason to go home now. If three years have passed on Earth, like you said they would, I'll have lost my job, my apartment and everything else will have changed; including my friendship with Sydney. Preston will treat me like he used to, now he's married Sydney, and my life will be miserable" Nigel said, on the verge of tears.

"No Nigel, you're wrong, it won't be like that at all and I can assure you everyone, including your brother, will be delighted and very relieved to have you back! I doubt you've any idea how much you've been missed and if it hadn't been such a life or death situation for the people of the 24th century, we would never have put you, or them, through such anguish. We simply had to get the timeline back on track and, unfortunately, to do that, Sydney and Preston had to marry… son they would have done that anyway had the timeline not been interfered with. Despite that Nigel, I promise you're going to have a really happy and rewarding life" the captain said sincerely, thinking how much he was personally going to miss Nigel when he's gone.

"So um what happens now then Sir, are you going to fly me home and just leave me there? What am I supposed tell everyone, they'll think I'm nuts if I say I was abducted and taken to a spaceship!" Nigel said, raising his voice and getting even more agitated at the thought of it.

"Nigel, son, try to keep calm, I didn't mean to upset you" Jean Luc said, noticing Deanna get up from the table having sensed how anxious Nigel was.

She walked around to the back of Nigel's seat, put her arms around his shoulders and said "It'll be alright Nigel, just listen to the captain."

Jean Luc continued "Son, it's obvious that while you've been on board the ship you've gained a lot of knowledge about the future and, of course, you've had experiences that will make you look ridiculous if you tell anyone about them; well it's for those reasons we've decided to partially erase your memory."

"What!" Nigel shouted, looking quite horrified. Deanna held him even tighter, sensing the shock of what he'd just been told surging through his body.

"Don't worry Nigel!" the captain said very quickly before Nigel could say any more "the procedure will only wipe out your memories of the time you've spent on the ship; all of your previous memories will remain intact and you'll be fine."

Nigel didn't look one bit convinced, but Jean Luc continued. "There's one thing though that we're going to let you remember, and that's your visits with 'your parents'. You'll only actually experience those as very vivid dreams, but they'll leave you feeling quite exhilarated and very happy when you wake up. You see Nigel; different areas of our brains are used for different things; so we can separate memories, oh and allowing those nice memories to stay with you will also help prevent nightmares in the future; so that's a good thing for you."

The captain had hoped that his explanation would make Nigel feel better but, unfortunately, it didn't as he was, obviously, very sceptical and quite frightened by the idea of having something done to his brain. Jean Luc, therefore, asked Beverly to explain a bit more.

"Sweetie, this particular technique is generally used on children who've had a traumatic experience; it enables them to forget the ordeal they've been though and lead a normal life" Beverly said, feeling quite sorry for him.

"Surely it's dangerous; you might turn me into a vegetable! Can't you just leave me as I am, I won't tell anyone about you, I promise" Nigel said, looking at the doctor pleadingly.

"Nigel, there's no way you'll be able to keep it a secret, Sydney or your brother will get it out of you one way or another and, like you said, they'll think you've lost your mind. If you genuinely can't remember where you've been you won't have to lie and your credibility won't be lost" the doctor said "I've checked your medical records very thoroughly and there's nothing in them that indicates it will be dangerous for you to undergo the procedure. The one little problem is that you're extremely intelligent and everyone you know on Earth is aware you have a phenomenal memory. Because of that it might be hard to convince some of them that you can't remember the past three years but, of course, you won't be lying, although in reality you will have only actually lost six weeks. It'll upset you at first Nigel, but not for long, you'll be too busy concentrating on your brilliant future as your intelligence, memories, hopes and wishes will remain exactly as they were before you came here. The thing is, even though you won't know it, everyone else on Earth will be three years older but, of course, you'll only have aged six weeks!"

Suddenly the reality of his situation struck him and, looking even more upset, he shouted out of pure frustration, "Bloody hell! Sydney's going to be eleven years older than me now, instead of eight!" Of course, he instantly realised how silly that sounded as age shouldn't make any difference now she's married, as any romantic relationship between them was completely out of the question.

"But Nigel, think about it" the captain said "everyone will believe you're 27 regardless of the fact that you still look so young. The age gap between you and Sydney and, of course, everyone else will appear exactly the same as it's always been as even you won't know you're still 24!"

Even though Nigel understood what the captain and Beverly had said, he just wished it could be different. He simply couldn't help but remember Jean Luc telling him that Sydney had started to become attracted to him. Of course it was all too late now and he knew he simply had to face the fact that Preston and Sydney were married.

He turned to Beverly and said rather quietly "doctor, the procedure, it won't hurt, will it?" his face turning white at the very thought of it.

"No, Nigel, of course it won't, it's completely painless; you trust me don't you? I've looked after you while you've been on the ship haven't I? You must know I won't let anything bad happen to you. Sweetie, I've used that technique successfully many times; you're going to be just fine, I promise" Beverly said, taking hold of his hand and squeezing it.

Nigel looked down at the table and then directly at Beverly and said "I trust you doctor and I understand why it needs to be done; um…. so when are you going to do it?"

"I'm already prepared sweetheart, so we can do right now if you like, or we can wait until after dinner if you'd prefer" Beverly said, hoping he wanted to do it now as the thought of him leaving was breaking her heart and she just wanted it over and done with, so that she could move on.

"I think I'd rather do it now than wait" Nigel said, still looking very nervous.

The room suddenly went very quiet and the doctor looked around at the other members of the crew and said "do any of you want to say anything to Nigel before he goes home?"

Deanna who, obviously, sensed exactly how Nigel felt about everything, realised he didn't blame anyone for any of this, as he understood that billions of people in the future would benefit from the sacrifice he'd made so that the timeline could be corrected. However, she also knew how deeply upset he was by the fact that Preston and Sydney were together, as had he not been abducted, he might have been the one to marry her.

Deanna looked at the people assembled around the table and said "I think before Nigel goes home we should all thank him for the great personal sacrifice he was forced to make to ensure our lives would continue as they were supposed to. It's such a shame we can't actually give him a proper gift; those memories of his parents are such a small thing compared to what he deserves but, obviously, he can't take anything from the future back home with him.

"I don't want anything Deanna, so don't worry about it" Nigel said, thinking what a caring person she was.

Everyone cheered and applauded Nigel; and Deanna, who was still stood by Nigel's chair, threw her arms around him again, sensing that a hug was all he really needed. Deanna shed a few tears as she said goodbye to him, realising she and everyone else would probably never see him again after that evening.

Nigel didn't know what to say, his head was so mixed up with thoughts about the procedure, seeing Sydney, anger towards Preston and, of course, never seeing his friends on the Enterprise again. However, he got up from the table and Geordi, Miles, and Captain Picard all said their personal goodbyes to him, shaking his hand and giving him a small hug as well.

Ryker, not really knowing Nigel that well, shook his hand, gave him a warm smile and said "you're going to be alright son, very soon your life will improve and you'll eventually find love and happiness."

"Really Sir! Who's going to love with me?... Will Cate change her mind about me!" Nigel asked; as other than Sydney, she was the only woman he still had romantic feelings for.

"You'll see" Ryker said, as the captain called his first officer away.

Guinan told him she thought he was a truly brilliant young man and that she believed he would go far and eventually find the happiness he deserved. They hugged and Nigel thanked her for being such a good friend.

Worf had been highly impressed by Nigel and had started to think of him as a little brother, even though they were so different. Nigel was overjoyed when the large Klingon said, as he hugged him "you may never become a warrior but you are, indeed, very brave; it has been an honour to know you."

Data said goodbye next and shook Nigel's hand firmly, wishing he could experience what everyone else was feeling as, unfortunately, Data, being an android, felt no emotion. Nigel, however, believed Data still 'cared' about him in his own way and a lump came into his throat when Data said "It was very nice meeting you Nigel, you are a very special young man and although you will not remember me; I will always remember you."

Nigel felt so sad saying goodbye to everyone, but hoped they were right about him having a wonderful future, especially since they all knew they'd be having a good one now!

Beverly walked Nigel to sickbay, where she hugged him tightly for several minutes, telling him that she'd miss him very much but it really was time for him to go home to his family and friends. She eventually let go of him and explained that she needed him to undress completely, get into bed and lie on his stomach so that she could start the procedure.

Nigel went into one of the smaller rooms within sickbay where he could undress in private and, as soon as he was ready, he put a towel around his waist and got into bed; immediately discarding the towel once he was under the covers. Lying down on his front he tried to get comfortable but the butterflies in his stomach refused to settle. As he led there wishing it was over he turned his head to the side and noticed Beverly looking really miserable as she made the final adjustments to the equipment she was about to use. Sadness filled his heart too as he realised he would never see the kind doctor again, or anyone else on the Enterprise.

Meanwhile, back on the Bridge; Captain Picard, Commander Riker and Deanna were all waiting for Beverly's call to say the procedure was complete. While they were waiting they discussed Nigel and the general consensus was that he was a very exceptional young man who deserved to have the wonderful future that they knew was in store for him!

It had been over an hour and they were getting slightly concerned that something might have gone wrong, as the operation generally took 20 minutes. However, a couple of minutes later a rather depressed sounding Beverly called to say that Nigel was ready to leave and, therefore, with great authority, the captain said "Number One, prepare the away team."

"Yes Sir" Ryker said "Deanna let's get this done."

Ryker and Counsellor Troi left the Bridge and immediately went to their respective quarters where they changed into some clothes suitable for the year 2006, and then made their way to sickbay. Once there, they were greeted by Beverly, who was also wearing suitable clothing. She was looking extremely unhappy and simply couldn't hide it.

"Are you ready for this Beverly?" the commander asked, trying to be professional as he couldn't let emotion get in the way of this important task.

"Yes Will, I have everything ready" she said, looking over to the young man lying motionless on the bed, who was now wearing the clothes he wore when he arrived on the ship.

Deanna gave Beverly a half smile; sensing just how unhappy her friend was about the pending departure of Nigel, although the truth of the matter was; she felt exactly the same.

Beverly got a blanket, one that looked like it might have been used in Nigel's time, and with the help of Deanna, wrapped it around the sleeping young man.

Nigel was completely unconscious as Commander Ryker picked him up and carried him to the transporter room where Miles was waiting by the control console. Once Miles had entered the necessary data, enabling them to be beamed to the correct location on Earth, the away team stood on the transporter platform where Ryker, who was holding on to Nigel tightly said "four to beam down chief."

Within seconds they found themselves in a rather secluded area of woods which was not far from the Massachusetts General Hospital, where they were going to deposit Nigel. Ryker knew exactly how to get to there, having worked out the route a few days earlier. They, obviously, wanted to keep their arrival on Earth as inconspicuous as possible, which was why Ryker chose to transport to the woods, rather than the hospital itself.

Ryker gently placed Nigel on the ground where Beverly checked his vital signs to ensure he was still in good health and showed no signs of distress from either the procedure or by being transported to Earth.

"He's fine Will" Beverly said, looking over at the tall man.

Ryker then looked over to Deanna and, without saying a word to her, she confirmed that Nigel was showing no signs of stress and, therefore; it was safe to leave him at the selected place.

As it was getting quite dark nobody noticed them place Nigel on a bench, which was situated outside the hospital entrance. Having already checked past weather records to ensure it wouldn't rain or get too cold, they left him there knowing he'd be perfectly alright for quite some time. As Nigel slept very deeply Ryker called the ship and said "three to beam to Nigel's apartment!"

Sometime later Nigel awoke to find a very worried looking man touching his forehead and feeling his pulse. He knew he was outside, because he could see the stars; however, he must have passed out again, because the next thing he knew he was in a hospital bed, feeling fine, apart from a slight headache and a very dry mouth. He tried to think what had happened but he couldn't remember and considered he must have passed out and been brought to the hospital.

He could see a nurse outside his room talking to a policeman, who kept looking over at him. Nigel couldn't help but wonder why he was there, although he soon found out when the policeman, noticing he was awake, suddenly left the nurse and came over to his bed.

"How are you feeling young man?" the cop asked.

"Fine Sir, just a bit thirsty, is there a problem?" Nigel asked, his voice sounding very croaky.

The cop poured out a glass of water and handed it to Nigel who drank the entire glass in one go!

"What's your name son?" the cop asked

"Nigel Bailey Sir" he said, his voice sounding much clearer now.

"Why were you sleeping on a bench outside the hospital Nigel? You weren't drunk, your clothes were clean and they look quite expensive; have your parents thrown you out?" the cop asked, noticing Nigel look surprised.

"No, my parents are dead and I wasn't sleeping on a bench; I was…. was, um, well….. the last thing I remember was arriving home from work; I put the key in the door and… and… then I remember seeing the stars above me and waking up here a little while ago" Nigel said, wondering if what the cop had said, about how he came to be there, was true.

"You've no idea how you got here or why you were sleeping rough?" the policeman asked, wondering if Nigel was hiding something from him.

"No Sir, I've no idea" Nigel said, looking quite worried and feeling very confused.

"The doctor who found you a couple of days ago brought you into the hospital because he couldn't wake you up. He didn't find any of the usual drugs they test for in your system, although he found a minute amount of some unrecognisable substance in your blood. He considered that might be why you were sleeping so deeply, but he found nothing else. He only called us to see if anyone matching your description was on a missing person's list; or in case we were looking for you" the cop said, noticing Nigel looked quite anxious.

"I don't take drugs Sir; I've taken sleeping pills once in a while, but not recently" Nigel said; wondering what that substance was that the doctor found.

"So is there anything else you remember?" the cop asked, wondering if Nigel was faking his memory loss for some reason.

"Well I can remember leaving work with a really bad headache and cycling home; I was wishing I could go to bed instead of having to go to the Grand Canyon with Sydney. Um is Professor Fox around? She might know what happened to me, maybe I fainted or something and someone brought me here, I really don't know" Nigel said, feeling even more confused.

"Where can I contact Professor Fox Nigel?" the policeman asked, taking out his notebook and pen.

"The ancient studies department of Trinity College, she's my boss" Nigel said, writing down the telephone number of the college for the cop, who immediately rang her using his cell phone. Nigel watched the cop, who was playing with his pen while he waiting for the call to be answered. Upon receiving a reply the policeman explained the situation to Sydney who screamed with joy when she heard that Nigel had been found!

"I think she's missed you!" the cop said, rubbing his ear "She'll be here as soon as she can but I'll get the nurse to come in and make you more comfortable before she arrives; bye Nigel."

The cop left believing this was probably nothing the Police needed to be involved in as Sydney, being so happy to hear the news, forgot to mention how long he'd been missing.

Just over an hour later Sydney rushed into his room and threw her arms around him, the tears rolling down her cheeks as she stroked his hair and hugged him tightly. As unusual as it was for her to cry, she simply couldn't stop herself on this occasion and Nigel was very surprised!

"Where've you been Nigel! Why didn't you call me! I thought you'd disappeared for good!" she said quite loudly as she continued to hug him.

"No need to cry Syd, I'm fine! Honestly, I am. I don't know what happened though, one minute I arrived home feeling really ill; the next, I'm here. I must have been so sick someone decided to leave me outside the hospital. I've been unconscious for the past few days or I'd have called you; sorry" he said, looking up and giving her a sweet lopsided smile; hoping she wasn't too annoyed with him.

"Never mind the past few days, where've you been for the rest of the time! she asked; starting to look quite cross.

"Has it been more than a few days then? Nigel asked, quite taken aback.

"Nigel, don't act the innocent with me! You've been gone almost three years and you know it! For God's sake, tell me where you've been; you took your passport with you so you must have been travelling!" she said as loudly as she dared, bearing in mind they were in a hospital.

"Syd, stop messing about, I'm not stupid, it can't have been very long because the policeman told me I was only brought here a few days ago, and anyway, you know I always keep my passport in my rucksack just in case we go abroad; you'd have found it if you'd looked in my hall closet… I didn't get a chance to get my bag before I passed out so it must still be there. You know I did actually intend to go to Las Vegas with you, I just didn't make it. Did you go without me?" Nigel asked, hoping she was going to say yes and that she'd found lots of Hopi relics.

"Nigel, that was years ago! You know I'm not messing about so you can stop making up silly stories! You know very well it's been almost three years!" she said, loudly, noticing he suddenly looked really scared, just like he always did if she shouted at him. "Look Nigel you've been away a long time, I had to get on with things; I couldn't just put my life on hold on the off chance you'd return. I thought you'd never come back and …" She didn't know what else to say; how was she going to explain about Preston and everything else. Then she thought …. he was the one who left, not me! She knew it was going to hurt Nigel terribly when she explained she'd married Preston, but then she considered that Nigel was being so evasive about where he'd been; he could quite easily be married too!

Nigel stared at her with a very sad, yet bemused expression on his face and said, very quietly "Syd, you're poking fun at me, aren't you?

She didn't respond to that, she just looked at him and thought; he looks so sincere but he can't really believe it's only been a few days surely. It's strange though, he looks exactly the same as the day he stood me up at the airport. I guess his hair could do with a cut, but other than that, he hasn't aged a day! She had to admit though; he looked really handsome with his hair just past his ears. Then, to her surprise, she noticed his clothes hanging on the back of the door; it was what he was wearing the day he disappeared!

Nigel noticed Sydney looked distracted but he still believed she was joking; the alternative was simply too scary!

Suddenly Nigel got an idea and said "Um Syd, pass me your little mirror from your purse please, if I've been away for three years I'll look different" he said, stretching out his hand and smiling. She handed it over, he looked at himself and thought the same as she did, he needed a haircut, but otherwise he looked the same. He smiled triumphantly as he handed back the mirror and said "Come on Syd, I've got you now, you can't explain why I haven't changed can you?" he said, laughing just a little as she still looked quite stern.

"No Nigel I can't, but you've still been away for three years!" she said, wondering if he had a good reason to fake amnesia or if he really had no idea where he'd been.

Just at that moment the policeman came back and glared at Nigel "I've been talking to my colleagues at the precinct; they've been looking for you for years, you're in big trouble young man! You've wasted hundreds of hours of police time; costing many thousands of dollars! Now where the hell have you been!" the cop yelled angrily, waiting for a reply.

Nigel was visibly shaken by the cop's tone and by the fact that he had more or less confirmed what Sydney had said. He looked up at the cop nervously and said "I, I don't know Sir… I re..really don't."

The policeman asked Sydney to leave so that he could talk to Nigel and get to the bottom of what had happened to him. Sydney could see that Nigel was scared and she really wanted to stay, although she couldn't imagine for one minute that Nigel would lie to the police, and besides, she wanted to know the truth too, so she didn't protest.

Just as she was about to leave Nigel called out to try and stop her and at that moment, as she turned around and saw the look on his face, she realised he was actually telling the truth; he really had no idea where he'd been!

"Right young man" the cop said "start from the beginning and if you keep up this pretence I'll take you down the precinct, put you in a cell and let the other prisoners do what they want with you! They'll love having a pretty boy like you in with them and you'll soon change your mind about explaining where you've been hiding then!"

"Please Sir, I honestly don't know where I've been; I can't remember anything since arriving at my apartment. Please don't take me to jail! I don't know anything!" he pleaded, the tears starting to pool in his eyes.

"You really can't remember anything at all?" the policeman asked, still looking a little sceptical but realising Nigel was actually very frightened.

"No Sir, nothing, Oh God, I don't understand this at all! Please Sir, I want to see my doctor; I need to know what's wrong with me…please! " he said, feeling completely distraught.

Upon seeing the horrified expression on Nigel's face the policeman went out to inform the doctor of his discovery and the doctor was totally shocked as he'd no idea that Nigel might be suffering from amnesia! He immediately rushed into Nigel's room to examine him, leaving the cop talking to Sydney, who'd been waiting for him. Unfortunately she was only able to stay for a short time as she felt the need to get back to her students, although actually, she was looking for any excuse she could think of to put off telling Nigel about Preston!

The doctor re-examined Nigel recalling that the only thing he'd found when he initially checked him was that odd substance in his blood. That chemical, or whatever it was, had still not been identified but his blood was now clear. The doctor began wondering if that substance had, in fact, caused Nigel's supposed amnesia if, indeed, he was suffering from that.

To ensure he didn't miss anything, and to test if Nigel was being truthful, the doctor checked his patient's head for any swelling and asked "Have you experienced any headaches recently Nigel?"

"I have a slight one now but other than that, I don't know Sir, I can't remember if I have…. other than at work; but everyone says that was three years ago! Sir I'm so confused, what's happening to me!" Nigel said, starting to get emotional.

"I can't find anything physically wrong with you at all, you've got some scars on your chest and shoulder, but they look a lot older than three years. I'll have to arrange for some scans to see if they reveal what the problem is. You may have suffered a head injury which is not visible externally; the scans will expose anything like that. Just take it easy; you seem perfectly healthy so I'm sure you'll be fine" the doctor said, leaving Nigel and walking back to the policeman.

The policeman returned to Nigel's bedside and said "look son, if you're trying to protect someone, or if you're just frightened of whoever took you, then don't be, just tell the truth and I'll make sure they can't hurt you; everything will be alright….. as long as no major crime has been committed! If you were kidnapped; or something like that, you must tell me Nigel; I just want to help."

"I'm not hiding anything, I'm not deliberately protecting anyone and nobody, as far as I know, has threatened me, I just simply can't remember!" Nigel said, rubbing his forehead and looking over to the door wishing that Sydney would come back.

That evening, just before Nigel was about to eat his dinner, two porters came into his room and advised him that he was being moved to a nicer room. Nigel wondered why, as he was perfectly comfortable where he was. However, his new room was really quite amazing and had a private bathroom, a huge flat screen TV and his bed was even more comfortable than the other one. There were six of his favourite books and bowl of fresh fruit, including grapes, which Nigel loved, on his bedside cabinet. He began to wonder who was paying for all this, as he couldn't imagine his insurance was up-to-date, although he considered it must be Sydney, as he couldn't think of anyone else who'd look after him to this extent!

The following day, to his astonishment, Cate Hemphill charged into his room and threw her arms around him, just like Sydney had.

"Nigel, it's so good to see you" she said, hugging him really tightly and thinking my God he still looks like a kid even now!

"Oh um, hi Cate; it's um nice to see you too" he said, hugging her back but feeling a little put out as he recalled that instead of calling him when she came to Boston, before he lost his memory, she only called Sydney! Of course, to him this felt like only a short time ago although, of course, it wasn't and he didn't know about the mix up with the phones.

"Nigel, Sydney said you're suffering from partial memory loss; has anything come back since yesterday? Cate asked; holding on to his hand, hoping he'd be honest with her because she was finding that hard to believe; even though she'd not even talked to him yet.

"Oh um, no I still can't remember where I've been; do you know anything?" he asked, looking at her hopefully.

Cate looked at him sternly and said "If I knew anything I'd have hauled your butt back home before now! Surely you remember something; you've got the most amazing memory of anyone I've ever known; please Nigel" she said, trying to keep calm "it doesn't matter if you're embarrassed about it, you can tell me!"

"Cate I don't remember anything, I can't tell you what I don't know!" he said rather sulkily.

"Really" Cate said, looking at him with her arms folded across her chest, not at all convinced he wasn't hiding something.

"So why are you in town this time Cate?" he asked, thinking I bet it's not just to see me.

"I live here now; I left Interpol and decided to come to Boston to live for a little while. I'm moving to England in a couple of days though; I've bought a house in London" she said, noticing Nigel looked quite stunned.

"You left Interpol! But why; you loved it!" he said, very surprised by her statement.

"Nigel I spent a long time trying to find you, I even turned down foreign assignments so that I could use Interpol's computers to search for your credit card transactions or passport usage. I searched and searched for anything that might lead me to you, but I found nothing!" Cate said; noticing Nigel was just staring at her now looking quite bewildered. She went on "as time passed, having turned down so many assignments, I was no longer offered anything interesting, so I lost my enthusiasm for the job. I still continued working there but my heart just wasn't in it; so two months ago I resigned" she said, wishing he'd open up to her.

"I'm so sorry Cate if I caused you to do that; I really didn't mean to, honestly, the last three years are just a complete blank" Nigel said, feeling quite guilty, even though it wasn't his fault. He truly wished he could tell her something to explain what had happened, but he couldn't.

"So what's the last thing you can recall then?" she asked, noticing he looked quite sad.

"Coming home to my apartment with my head pounding, feeling a little annoyed with you and then waking up here, that's all!" Nigel said, feeling frustrated by the situation.

"What do you mean you were annoyed with me?" she asked, rather surprised. Nigel explained and when Cate told him about the confusion with the cell phones, he felt a little better; although he knew he shouldn't keep thinking about her romantically as she no longer felt that way about him. The fact was; they'd dated for a while, but when she discovered he was nine years younger than her; she dumped him. Of course, they'd always remained friends and she'd visited him in Boston quite often prior to his disappearance, the problem was, she didn't seem to realise how confusing a continual friendship like that could be for a young man; never mind someone as sensitive as Nigel.

"So Nigel, you remember what happened three years ago, but nothing since that time; is that right?" she said, looking rather sceptical.

"Yes Cate, that's right!" he said, folding his arms and looking at her defiantly, realising she didn't really believe him.

"Nigel I spent all that time trying to find you and now you turn up out the blue like this and expect me to believe you've got amnesia! That's, that's… ridiculous!" Nigel looked at her and felt very hurt, as although he understood how much time and effort she'd put into trying to find him, there was simply nothing he could do about it.

At that moment one of the nurses rushed in having overheard Cate's angry remarks. She looked at her young patient, noticed how upset he was and felt the need to defend him.

"Madam!" she shouted "what he's told you about losing his memory is not ridiculous! I can assure you it happens and it's very frightening! Nigel's been trying really hard to remember things, but he can't! You shouldn't treat him like that; he's suffered enough as it is without you making him look like a liar!"

Cate was rather surprised by the nurse's tone as she was not accustomed to being told off!

The nurse continued "Now, madam, if you raise your voice again I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

"OK, OK, I guess I got a little carried away" Cate said, looking back at the nurse "I apologise; I'll keep my voice down and leave in a minute."

She turned back to Nigel and noticed he was now shaking his head very roughly, like he was trying to dislodge something; he then began rubbing his forehead and eyes very hard too, obviously feeling quite distressed.

"Oh Nigel!" Cate said, as she pulled him close to her and hugged him again "I'm sorry, it's just so hard for me to imagine you not being able to remember things, but Nigel if it's really you're just too embarrassed to tell me, or anyone else, what really happened, don't be; all we want is to have you back to how you were."

"Cate, please believe me when I say I really can't remember! I most likely did do something stupid though, it would be just like me; otherwise I probably wouldn't be in this situation!" he said, looking rather sheepish

"Look Nigel, I've got to go now, obviously, if you remember anything, or if you just need to talk; then call me, alright?" She wrote down her cell phone number and handed it to him; genuinely hoping that if he truly has amnesia, he'd get his memory back soon.

"Bye Cate, you'll love England" he said, trying to keep his emotions under control and wishing he could have convinced her he was telling the truth. She kissed him on the cheek and said goodbye, thinking how innocent he still appeared and wondering where on earth had he been!

The following day, much to Nigel's delight, Sydney came back to the hospital to see him. He was feeling happier, having had the most wonderful dream about his parents which he could hardly wait to tell her about. She'd helped him so many times when he'd had nightmares and he knew she'd be glad to hear about this. She was, of course, although it didn't make what she was about to do any easier.

She was holding a medium sized envelope which she kept looking at and turning over and over, as she half listened to Nigel talking about Cate's visit and his thoughts about her not believing he'd partially lost his memory.

"I guess nothing's come back then Nigel" Sydney said, looking really worried and handing him the envelope.

"No Syd, but they've done all sorts of tests and a couple of scans, so I hope they find out what's wrong and are able to help me. Syd, it's really scary not knowing where I've been or what I've done" Nigel said, his mood suddenly changing "it's even more worrying that neither you nor Cate could find me; anyone would think I'd been abducted by aliens or something!" he said, jokingly to try and stop himself from getting too upset again. "Um what's this Syd" he asked, looking at the envelope.

Sydney smiled at him nervously and said "Open it… look I'm sorry, but you were gone and he was here, I swear I didn't do it to hurt you." She stared down at the floor and waited for Nigel's reaction to what was in the envelope.

"No! This can't be real, you wouldn't do that, you wouldn't" Nigel cried. Sydney tried to calm him down but he was devastated, she'd shown him three photographs of the wedding.

**PLEASE REVIEW**

In the next chapter find out what happens when Nigel meets Preston again and Nigel gets married!


	7. Chapter 7

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.**_

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Nigel threw the envelope and wedding photographs back at Sydney, giving her a look that said 'I hate you!' He was so shocked he could barely breathe, he felt so betrayed.

"I'm so sorry Nigel; I don't know what else to say except… we aren't together anymore; I filed for divorce two weeks ago" she said, trying to be sensitive, noticing how devastated he looked and recalling, about three and a half years ago, how upset he'd been when she left him alone in Spain to go off on a relic hunt with, of all people, … Preston! She remembered how insensitive she'd been to his needs back then as, even though she knew his nose had been broken by someone who thought he was Preston, and he was about to give a very important speech, which he needed her there for, for moral support; Preston's hunt took priority! She could still visualise the look of horror he'd given her because of that, but this time, of course, it was even worse. She knew Nigel well and realised that, despite his closeness to his brother, before he went missing, he'd be convinced that Preston would revert back to his old ways and taunt him cruelly about all this. However, even though she was aware that Preston had done that several times before, she didn't believe he would this time; he'd missed Nigel far too much. Nevertheless, to minimise the impact of her revelation she added "Preston's only just gone back to England, so I don't think you need to worry about seeing him for a while, he's got a lot of business matters to deal with, although I did leave a voicemail message to let him know you've been found."

"Yes I bloody bet you did! How could you have married HIM! How could you!" Nigel shouted looking so hurt, the tears instantly pooling in his eyes. He felt like his entire world had collapsed and he glared at Sydney believing, at that moment, there could be no explanation for what she'd done.

"I thought I loved him Nige, I really did, he helped me look for you; he was tireless and refused to give up; even when everyone else had been forced to stop. He stayed here for so long looking for you, he lost his job in London; including his part-time teaching position. Nige, he was so thoughtful and considerate towards me when I was at my lowest; and the love he showed towards you was proof enough he'd changed; I had to practically beg him to take your job when I was so backed up at work" she said, those last few words spoken without really thinking.

"You what!" Nigel screamed, too annoyed to even cry now "you let him have my job!"

"Nigel, he didn't want to take it! He remembered what he'd done so you wouldn't get the job at the British Museum and just kept refusing; he knew how upset you'd be…..but Nigel, someone had to help me, and I needed someone like you; so he eventually gave in" she said, suddenly realising that that statement would probably infuriate him further, as she was aware that Nigel always considered he and Preston were so different.

"Get out of here Syd! I never want to see you again!" he said lying down and turning his back on her; the tears now flowing down his cheeks. She walked around to the other side of the bed so that she could see his face.

"Nigel, I only meant someone with similar knowledge; he was nothing like you, not really… OK he was kind and considerate, most of the time, and his knowledge of history is excellent; but he was also very controlling, like he was with you, he couldn't accept me as his boss once we'd married and he's got some archaic ideas about married life! We'd only been married six months when I realised it was a mistake" she said, thinking she hadn't even told him the worst yet. She looked really miserable and then added "I did try hard to make it work though, especially recently; but it was useless."

Nigel sat up again and wiped his eyes, his face was still flushed from his outburst but he was trying to calm down. He saw the pain in Sydney's face and realised it was Preston he should be angry with, not her and said "Syd, I'm sorry, it's just ….. just; oh why did it have to be Preston!"

Of course, she had no idea how much Nigel loved her, believing his anger was purely because she'd married a man who'd behaved so appallingly towards him for most of his life. She, therefore, just shrugged her shoulders and said "Nige, don't start hating him again, he didn't marry me to hurt you, he loves you."

Nigel, of course, had his reservations about that statement but he tried to be sensible and considered that, because a divorce was pending and his brother had gone home, he wouldn't be around to taunt him and besides, Preston has nothing much to brag about anymore, as his marriage has failed and, therefore, Sydney won't want to see him! Those thoughts cheered him up a little and so to prevent Sydney from leaving, as she was just about to do, he opened his mouth for the purpose of starting a more civilised conversation. However, before he got the first word out he suddenly noticed something that made his heart sink and he called out "Sydney are you, you…. pre.. pregnant!"

She stopped, looked back at him and saw the wounded look on his face that suddenly turned to anger and her heart sank too.

"Yes Nigel; I'm three months along" she said, feeling so upset by that look which caused her to turn her back on him again and leave. She really believed, by his reaction, that he'd never speak to her again. However, even though he was very shocked and exasperated, he suddenly realised, as she left his room, how horrible he'd been and immediately wanted to take it all back. His head was spinning and his stomach was in knots as he thought of how badly he'd behaved; realising he may have lost her friendship forever and he'd now be all alone.

That night he couldn't sleep as the heated conversation he'd had with Sydney raced through his mind time and time again and he feared for his future.

The following day, Nigel's consultant came in to see him and advised that the scans he'd undertaken had revealed nothing unusual. He, therefore, began questioning Nigel in the hope of tripping him up and proving he was lying about his memory loss. Of course, nothing he or anyone else did, or said, made any difference and they eventually realised he must be telling the truth and felt quite sorry for him. The problem was they had no way of helping him now; all they could do was let nature take its course and hope his memory returned.

"You can go home tomorrow Nigel" the doctor suddenly said, as he finished double checking the back of Nigel's neck for any swellings that might have appeared since he'd last examined him "I bet you can hardly wait to leave."

"Sir, I don't think I have a home anymore and I've no idea where I'm going to go when I leave here" Nigel said looking very worried.

"Son, surely you can talk to Professor Bailey, she'll help you, won't she? the doctor said as he felt Nigel's glands under his chin.

Just hearing that name made Nigel to feel quite emotional and he said, almost choking on his words "I um, don't know Sir, we sort of had a row; I doubt she cares much about me now."

His consultant shook his head and said "of course she does; Nurse Mason told me she rang this morning to check how you are, although I understand she didn't want to be put through to you."

Nigel realised he was going to have to grow up a bit now if he was going to survive in the world without Sydney telling him what to do. She'd always been there to protect him and give him advice, not only on personal matters such as girlfriends, but on life in general; especially regarding America, which he found so totally different to England, where he'd been completely sheltered from the real world.

When his consultant left, Nigel sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the floor. He felt so lonely and disheartened and considered that nobody cared about him anymore. He sat there tormenting himself for a good twenty minutes when all of a sudden he heard someone enter his room. He looked up, and to his utter astonishment, he saw it was Preston, who ran over to him and physically picked him up off the bed to hug him!

"Where've you been Podge! Are you alright! Did they hurt you! Have the police got them?" Preston asked, frantically; gently putting his little brother back down on the bed. He stroked the hair off Nigel's face and just stared at him for a few seconds; like he was checking to see he was real.

Nigel was simply dumbstruck; Preston was not behaving at all like he'd imagined he would!

"I'm so glad to see you Podge; I've missed you, I really have, I did ring but you were always away from your bed" Preston said, the tears pooling in his eyes.

"Preston, it's um… I um." Nigel stammered. He was still very angry with him but he was so taken aback by Preston's reaction to seeing him again; he didn't know quite what to say. Nigel hadn't expected to see him at all, believing his brother would be unable to face him, after all that had happened. The fact was he and Preston had actually discussed Sydney in the past and they'd both agreed that neither of them would suit her as a boyfriend. Nigel tried to think clearly and, as annoyed as he was, he decided he had to give his brother a chance to explain himself as, deep down, he didn't really want to fall out with him again and he'd already made the mistake of over reacting to Sydney when she told him the news.

Preston saw the bewildered expression on his little brother's face and said "Podge, when Sydney called to say you were back I almost passed out! We'd looked and looked for you; whoever took you was certainly professional; there wasn't a single clue to where you'd gone. Did you escape or something?" Preston asked, so thrilled to see his brother that it hadn't occurred to him that Nigel might not be happy to see him.

"Preston, please don't call me Podge and, really, I've got no idea what happened to me, who took me; if that's what happened, or how I got away; if I did get away. I don't know anything except that I'm back now, you've married Sydney and she's having your baby!" Nigel said; looking up at his brother, who was almost six inches taller than him.

"Nigel, I've called you Podge since you were a baby, it's a term of endearment, not something I say to upset you; well at least not anymore … and please don't be angry about me and Sydney, we just fell in love; as surprising as that seems, it just happened, I swear I didn't do it to get one over on you, I'm not like that anymore, I've changed. We spent a lot of time together looking for you; we comforted each other through that terrible time and after weeks of checking hospitals and morgues, searching your apartment and speaking to so many people about you, I lost my job." He explained everything to Nigel, just like Sydney had and Nigel noticed how genuine he looked, something that really surprised him.

Nigel's heart soon softened as he realised Preston must have been through hell trying to find him and that nothing he could say or do was going to change the past.

Preston continued "Nanny's over the moon with joy knowing you've been found… you must call her; she'll fret until you do!"

"Pres, I did call her and it was wonderful hearing her voice; I hadn't spoken to nana for a while before I supposedly vanished, so we talked for over an hour; my hospital phone bill's going to be astronomical!" he said, suddenly wondering how he was going to be able to pay for everything now he'd upset Sydney, especially as he'd no idea what was in his bank account and his insurance would surely have lapsed.

"Sorry Podge, I should have realised you'd have done that, but don't you go worrying about the bills, I'm paying for everything, I just want you to get well again and I don't want you in some pokey little room like the one I understand they initially put you in" he said, smiling at his brother, feeling so genuinely happy to see him.

"Oh, um… thanks Pres, I thought um…um …. the room's great, are you sure you don't mind, it's going to be very expensive" Nigel said, feeling quite relieved and very grateful.

"Of course I don't mind, you're my brother and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure I look after you, I have to do something to make up for the past. Podge…. Sydney told me you couldn't remember where you've been and by what you've just said it sounds like nothing's come back yet."

"No it's not, it's still a complete blank and I'm scared about what might have happened to me and because I don't know what I'm going to do with my life. Everything's changed in the past three years and I feel like I did when I first left home; completely lost. I'm supposed to be 27, but I look and feel almost exactly the same as I did three years ago; except, um.. well um, one thing's different, um… remember the scars on my um um…. behind?" Nigel said very sheepishly, starting to blush.

"Yes Podge, what about them" Preston asked, looking quite confused.

"Well they, they've um completely vanished!" Nigel said looking up at Preston to see if he believed him.

"Really, are you sure! That seems rather odd! Perhaps it's a trick of the light; or I suppose you could have had a skin graft that you don't remember having" Preston said, feeling quite concerned as he knew Nigel would never have agreed to an operation that wasn't absolutely necessary and, obviously, the scarring wasn't life threatening, or painful anymore; it was just unsightly.

"I suppose, but the skin would have had to have come from somewhere else on my body, but it didn't. I can't believe I would have had plastic surgery, but honestly, I've got no marks left at all! Usually the first thing a doctor asks me when I'm examined is who abused me and I was surprised when they didn't this time! Pres, something else that's odd too; the clothes I was wearing when I was found, they're the same as I was wearing when I apparently vanished and I still don't need to shave more than once every couple of days; it's just like time stopped for me!" Nigel said, looking at his brother with a confused expression on his face.

"That's quite a coincidence about the clothes and, actually, I was thinking you haven't changed, but that's nothing to worry about Podge, lots of people don't seem to age much for a long time, but they do eventually" Preston said, wishing he was as good looking as his little brother but feeling very perturbed about why the scars were removed!

"I know Pres, but those professors I told you about at Trinity, before I lost my memory, the ones who treat me like I'm one of their students and disregard my input at meetings, they're still not going to have any respect for me if I look exactly the same; although I suppose that's not going to be a problem now, since I don't work there anymore" Nigel said, looking so sad, his eyes filling with tears.

Preston took Nigel into his arms again and said gently as he hugged him "it's alright, come on, you'll be glad you look so young in a few years, I can guarantee it! Everyone will be glad to have you back at Trinity and I know Sydney's not found a new assistant yet; so you'll be able to go right back. I know everyone still misses you, especially Karen; I think she might be secretly in love with you!" Nigel blushed because, of course, he knew all about unrequited love!

Preston held him a little tighter and went on "look we can talk about Trinity and what might have happened to you another time, alright, I can see it's upsetting you" Nigel held on to his brother, realising that Preston was being genuine and that felt so good.

It was pretty obvious to Preston that Nigel was feeling utterly baffled by the fact that Sydney had married him, in fact he could hardly believe it himself; he never thought in a million years he'd marry Sydney Fox! He wanted Nigel to be aware of the full facts but it was difficult for him to explain, especially when he felt like such a failure; he simply wasn't used to that! He held Nigel for a little while, not only to reassure him of his sincerity, but also to comfort himself while he considered what to say.

"Sydney and I are divorcing Podge" Preston said suddenly, gently letting go of him "I know you're aware that she's expecting our baby but do you know that too?" he asked, his eyes filling up with tears.

"Yes I know about the divorce Pres; but you'll stay in contact for the baby's sake, won't you?" Nigel said, wiping his eyes on a tissue and handing one to his brother, realising that he'd actually like that to happen now.

"Yes, but only because of the baby; Sydney's been so difficult, she's refusing to even think about giving up work after the birth! She's adamant she'll only stay home for six months and then resume teaching AND relic hunting! I've tried to tell her she can't do that, but she won't listen. We've done nothing but argue about it for months, our marriage has completely fallen apart as a consequence" Preston said, looking really upset, although he realised he wasn't exactly the easiest person to live with.

Nigel wasn't used to hearing his brother be so open about his feelings, but he wasn't surprised that he wanted Sydney to be a housewife, or that Sydney refused.

"Podge, I um, don't want our child to um be raised by anyone but me and um Sydney, but she'll almost certainly prevent me from seeing the baby now we've split up, so I'll probably go back to London to live permanently" Preston said, not looking Nigel in the eye and acting a little shifty, like he was trying to hide something.

"Preston, what is it, why would you say that? Sydney wouldn't stop you seeing your own baby, she'd never be that cruel; you know that!" Nigel looked at his brother and noticed a strange expression on his face and then it dawned on him what was wrong "Pres; is that what you actually want to happen! Do you want Sydney to stop you seeing your baby!... Are you scared of raising your own child? Is that what it is!" Nigel could remember some particularly revealing conversations he'd had with his brother in the past about raising children, which was why this thought occurred to him.

Preston just looked at Nigel with a very pained expression on his face and said, looking down at the floor "no, of course not!"

"That's it, isn't it? You're frightened of looking after a child again!... Pres, I may have lost three years of memories but I still remember you spilling your heart out to me about the guilt you felt for being so strict with me after mum and dad died. You told me then that you'd like to have a child one day; but you were scared you'd lose your temper, like you did with me. Preston, you've done everything you can to ensure you won't behave erratically anymore... it'll be different this time, you'll see. Pres, I know you smacked me and you had a bad temper, but I don't think for one minute you'd harm your own child! You've had psychological counselling and you took anger management classes… and just look at how sympathetic and understanding you're being towards me! You've rarely been this nice to me since I was a very little boy" he said, really believing that Preston had the ability to raise a child properly; not just because he was older, but because he remembered how much kinder he'd become 'three years ago' and he was still behaving the same now. "You'll be a good dad Pres and I'll help, if Sydney will let me" Nigel said, instinctively knowing he was correct about how is brother was feeling.

Preston just looked at his little brother and could hardly believe what he'd just said.

"Podge, how can you have such faith in me after all I put you through since you were 12? I was an awful brother!" Preston said, sincerely.

"Pres you were never given any choice about whether or not you looked after me, it was just assumed that you would and that you were mature enough to do it, but you were only 19 years old! Preston, your 31 now; an adult and I actually always knew you loved me even when you punished me" Nigel said, forgetting about the three years he'd lost; because Preston was actually 34.

"You're such a perceptive little beggar, aren't you! Preston said, pulling Nigel close to him again "I might be a great dad, but I might not and I'm too scared to take the risk Podge; not if Sydney isn't always going to be around."

"Pres, I assume you haven't told Sydney how you feel yet; so how are you going to explain that to her? Nigel asked, feeling sorry for him as he believed his brother was going to miss out on something quite wonderful if he continued thinking the way he did.

"I've no idea how I'm going to tell her but, like I said, I think she'll probably make it difficult for me to see the child, perhaps she'll only allow me to have supervised visits; then I'll only have to worry about it every now and again. I'll send lots of presents and see that financially the baby wants for nothing" he said, still looking quite sad, because in his heart of hearts, he wanted things to be different. Suddenly his expression changed and he looked at Nigel like an idea had just popped into his head and said "did you mean it, you know, when you said you'd help?"

"Oh Preston, of course I'll help… that is… if Sydney lets me. I was so horrible to her when she told me she'd married you, it was such a shock and I thought you'd come to me bragging about it and generally be horrible again; I'm glad I was wrong about that!" Nigel said, looking at his brother with a sad expression on his face. "I told her to go away and that I didn't want to see her again, but I do Preston, I do, but it might be too late now." He let go of his brother and climbed back onto his bed, feeling really dejected.

"Sydney does want to see you Podge; she was rather upset by what you said, at first, but all she really wants is for you to call her to let her know you don't hate her" Preston said, handing Nigel his cell phone. "She was so happy when she called to tell me you'd been found but when she called yesterday to up-date me on things, she was really miserable because you'd fallen out. Please Podge; ring her, she'll be so glad to hear from you. Oh yes, can you please tell her I've not upset you; she was worried about that when I said I was coming here, I don't think she expected me to fly back so soon, even to see you!"

"OK, I'll tell her" Nigel said, smiling at his brother, the butterflies in his stomach fluttering as he dialled Sydney's number. As she didn't answer, he left a message and a text, realising that Sydney would think it was Preston who'd called and may not wish to speak him. Two minutes later Sydney rang back.

"Hi Syd, it's me, I guess you want to speak to Nigel" Preston said, truly hoping they would make up; he could tell how guilty Nigel was feeling about their quarrel.

"Thanks Preston, put him on please" she said.

Nigel anxiously took the phone and immediately said "Syd, I'm so sorry for what I said, please forgive me, I didn't mean it; you can get Preston to smack me if you like!" he giggled nervously, hoping Sydney would find that funny.

"Perhaps I should, you naughty boy!" she laughed, feeling so relieved that he sounded like his old self again. "Apology accepted Nige; but I'm sorry too."

"Syd, you don't need to apologise…. but I want to apologise to you properly and I really need to see you to do that. Oh and um, just one other thing, I know it's not your problem, but I'm being sent home tomorrow and well… I don't have anywhere to call home now; I'm sure my old apartment won't be available after all this time" Nigel said, feeling really down as he loved his apartment and his landlady.

"Nige, don't worry, Preston's been renting it for the last three years, as he had to have somewhere to stay while we looked for you. He even held on to it after we got married and recently he moved back in, for obvious reasons, so you'll be able to go right back! All of your belongings, including your clothes, are still there and from what I saw of you, they're still going to fit!" she said, now feeling on top of the world.

After Nigel had finished talking to Sydney he put down the phone and looked at his brother with a big smile on his face and said "I feel so much better now….. um Pres, why did you keep my little apartment? You can afford to buy or rent something much more lavish than that."

"I supposed….. well, I just needed to feel close to you and seeing your photographs and that silly little polar bear that you still have, helped" Preston said, almost blushing.

"You bought me the bloody bear" Nigel said giving his brother a fake angry look.

"I'll put you across my knee in a minute, you little beggar!" Preston said jokingly; causing fits of laughter from them both. A minute later they stopped laughing and gave each other a look that said 'we must never let anything come between us again'.

Nigel knelt up on the bed, hugged Preston again and said "I think things will be alright now; as long as I don't find out something horrific about where I've been during the last three years; I'm so scared about that Pres."

"Try not to think about it too hard, let things come back naturally, forcing yourself to think probably won't do you any good and you'll probably get a headache" Preston said, actually feeling as scared as Nigel about what might have happened to him.

About an hour later Sydney came into Nigel's room and hugged him tightly; she was so happy to see him looking a lot happier…. and apparently comfortable with Preston!

Preston left them alone and took the opportunity to speak to Nigel's consultant, as he was extremely concerned about his brother. He wanted clarification on what the Police were doing, how Nigel was found and his general state of health, both physically and mentally.

Because of Preston's past association with some undesirable people, he couldn't help but wonder if his attractive little brother had been taken by some perverts to be used for God knows what! He'd had terrible nightmares about that, ever since his brother had disappeared, and Nigel revealing that his scars had been removed from his behind, only reinforced those awful thoughts. This was, of course, because the type of deviants he was thinking of would have wanted a perfect package to sell! The doctors did their best to reassure Preston that there was no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Nigel had been physically, or sexually abused; explaining further that those were some of the possibilities they'd considered initially, as they believed whatever happened to him must have been extremely traumatic to have caused such a complete memory loss of that time.

Preston was glad, at least, that Nigel hadn't been physically hurt, but what the doctor said still didn't stop him worrying that he might have been abused in other ways. He knew that Nigel had been sexually assaulted, by a teacher, when he was a teenager, and he could hardly bear to think about that; never mind something even worse. He hoped, deep down, that if something horrific had happened to him; that Nigel would never remember it.

Preston returned to Nigel's bedside where the three of them had a long conversation about Nigel's future. Sydney wanted him to come back to Trinity, as soon as possible; only as an equal partner, not as her assistant! Nigel was thrilled by the offer but explained that he still wanted to obtain a few masters degrees, which he'd been studying for prior to his disappearance. Unfortunately, relic hunting and working for Sydney had prevented him having the time to complete his studies, which had quite often caused friction between them. Sydney gave that some thought and came up with a plan whereby he could become a part-time student for now and a full-time student during the later stages of her pregnancy and, of course, for the first six months of the baby's life; when she would be away from work. She realised that this might cause difficulties for the college but considered they owed a lot to her and Nigel, so they'd have to manage without both of them during that time. Nigel was so happy that, at long last, he'd be able to complete his education and he felt overjoyed when Preston offered to assist in any way he could.

At Trinity though Nigel was considered, by many, to be a brilliant young man and it was going to make no difference to them whether or not he got his masters, but it did to Nigel! He wanted to show those professors, who didn't think much of him, that he was worthy of their respect.

Sydney and Preston also had a huge discussion, in front of Nigel, about how the baby would be taken care of, once Sydney returned to work. During this lengthy conversation Sydney revealed that she'd already arranged with her father and Jenny that they would take care of the child during the day, although she would visit at lunch time and, of course; take the baby home at night. This was all going to be possible because Randall and Jenny had recently moved to Boston and now lived just a short distance from Trinity. They were delighted to be able to help because, unfortunately, Jenny had been told, some time ago, that she'd be unable to have children of her own. This was, of course, devastating to her, especially since Randall was considered too old to officially adopt. Preston was already aware of Jenny's sad situation and recalled Sydney telling him that when Jenny was trying to come to terms with her condition, she'd jokingly suggested that Sydney should hurry up and get pregnant so that she could, at least, spoil her baby rotten! Of course, had Randall and Jenny not been agreeable to this course of action, Sydney would have given up work until she'd found the best nanny on the face of the earth to look after her child. Louisa Wright was getting too old to help raise another child; otherwise Sydney would have brought her to America for that purpose.

In the midst of their long conversation Preston decided to confess to Sydney that he believed he'd be a terrible father; although he didn't expand on that just then. He did, however, say that he wanted to live in England, explaining that he'd never felt comfortable with the American way of life and found it difficult to socialise now that he and Sydney had separated. Sydney was, naturally, upset and told him that she thought he was being selfish and that even though they were divorcing, she still wanted their child to know him.

Preston now realised he was completely wrong about Sydney making it difficult for him to see their baby and actually began to feel guilty for hoping she would! He decided, therefore, to be as honest as possible, without actually revealing his true misgivings and said "Sydney I believe honestly it'll be better for everyone, not just for me, if I go back home." He looked over to Nigel and said "Podge you understand what I mean don't you?"

"Yes Preston I do" Nigel said, feeling quite awkward about being there while they discussed the matter of the baby.

Before Sydney could say anything, Preston continued "You see Sydney, I've spoken to Nigel about helping you with the baby; I think he'd be a good influence on the child, and he's a blood relative after all." Preston looked over at his brother, as if to check he'd not changed his mind, and continued "you're going to need some help in the evenings and weekends; you can't actually expect Randall and Jenny to be on call all of the time and Nigel's agreeable; so I hope you are too?" He still didn't let Sydney respond before going on "unlike me, he's sensitive and would make a great 'dad'. Would you let him help you? He'd be brilliant Sydney, you know I'm right" he said, desperately hoping she'd agree.

Sydney was a little taken aback by what Preston had said and thought he was wrong to believe he'd be a dreadful dad, even though she knew what he'd done to Nigel. She mulled it over in her mind and it occurred to her that what Preston was suggesting could actually work out quite well as, bearing in mind they'd soon to be divorced; she didn't particularly want to keep running into him at the grocery store and the like.

She also realised that Preston, even though he still worked, was actually very wealthy, having inherited a fortune from his father when he turned 25. This being the case she knew that he could easily afford to fly to and from America any time he liked. She, therefore, made a few things clear to him before she agreed to anything and said "Preston, you can go home if you really want to, as long as Nigel truly doesn't mind helping, because he's got a lot of studying to do. However that has to be on the understanding that you'll regularly visit the baby, especially early on, and take a real interest in him or her. What I mean by that is; I want you to have a proper relationship with your son or daughter." She stared at her husband and wondered how on earth she'd ever come to think of him as the perfect man!

"Sydney I promise I will; he or she will want for nothing! I'll have to come here anyway to visit Podge and check that he's behaving himself and fulfilling his role as an uncle!" he laughed and looked at Nigel, who was giving him a fake hurt look, trying not to giggle. "Only kidding Podge, I know you'll be brilliant" Preston said, meaning every word. He went on to explain that he was determined to be a part of the child's life, but that he didn't feel he'd be able to relate to a child on a day to day basis, which Nigel thought was a good way of covering up what he really felt as, obviously, he couldn't tell the complete truth! Nigel was confident, however, that Preston would be good father, as he seemed completely different to the angry young man that raised him. If he'd had any concerns at all about his brother, he'd have felt duty bound to tell Sydney, but he had none. He also considered that if Sydney was made aware of what Preston thought about himself, she might change her mind about everything and actually prevent him from seeing his child!

By the end of the day everything was agreed and all three were relatively happy about their plans for the future.

Five months after that big discussion Sydney and Preston's divorce was granted, which caused both of them more than a little sadness.

Nigel, in the meantime, had received some wonderful news as, following Preston's return to England; he'd contacted the family lawyer, Mr Middleton, and advised him that Nigel had turned up. That being the case, as it was believed Nigel was 27 (although, in fact, he wasn't even 25 yet) he was given his full inheritance; which made him as wealthy as Preston! Of course, the brothers still jointly owned the family home in London, Sydney not wanting any part of that in the divorce settlement, although only Preston lived there now. Louisa Wright, of course, still had a room there, even though she had her own home, as she still helped Preston with family matters and kept an eye on him!

A short while after the divorce Sydney gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Unfortunately, Preston missed the birth as there was a strike at Heathrow Airport, preventing him getting to Boston in time. Nigel, however, was there holding Sydney's hand, although he was far too nervous and embarrassed to watch the actual birth!

Once Preston arrived he kissed Sydney on the cheek, gave his brother a hug and looked into the crib next to Sydney's bed. He was overjoyed to see his beautiful little girl and actually plucked up the courage to pick her up, much to Sydney's surprise and delight!

After about half an hour Preston asked Nigel if he would mind leaving the room for a moment, as he needed a private discussion with Sydney. Nigel was actually quite relieved as he was almost as exhausted as Sydney and needed a cup of tea to help wake him up!

He went to the bathroom to wash his face and then went to find a vending machine where, unfortunately, he could only get coffee. He sat down on a bench to drink it and smiled as he thought about Sydney and his tiny niece. He began to yawn and wished he could go to sleep but then he noticed a rather large man who was looking quite baffled by the instructions on the drinks machine. Nigel being the helpful young man he was offered to help and once the man had chosen his drink they sat down together to chat for a few minutes.

Nigel kept looking at the man, feeling as if he knew him from somewhere, although he couldn't place him at all. The man was very friendly and didn't appear to know Nigel but being in the maternity wing of the hospital he asked if Nigel's wife had had the baby yet.

Nigel blushed as he explained that Sydney had given birth to a daughter a few hours ago; only he was just the uncle, not the father. The man gave Nigel a beaming smile and replied "I think that little girl is going to be a credit to you, and her parents." He then winked and walked away, leaving Nigel thinking how odd that a complete stranger would say that. Nigel had only spoken to the man for a short time, however, had he gotten around to asking his name he'd have been told it was William Ryker!

Back in Sydney's room Preston nervously held his sweet little daughter in his arms and remembered seeing Nigel just after he was born; he'd actually been premature and was quite tiny and even to seven year old Preston he looked small. Preston placed his baby girl in Sydney's arms and smiled; then he looked at Sydney and said "you know how much I want to make things up to Nigel for what I put him through growing up?"

"Yes I know, but you've done lots of things to help him and I've never seen him happier" she replied, looking quite confused as to why he'd suddenly made that comment.

"So what do you think about the name Nigella?" Preston asked, truly hoping she'd be pleased.

"Preston, it's beautiful, how clever of you to think of it!" Sydney said, feeling overjoyed by Preston's kind gesture "Nigel will be thrilled to bits; I'm sure…. call him back in, I can't wait to tell him!"

Nigel was over the moon with happiness, particularly when Sydney explained it was Preston's idea. He gave his brother a hug to thank him, something that had become completely natural between them since Nigel's reappearance; Preston having always frowned upon any public display of affection, even when Nigel was a small child and liked to be cuddled at every opportunity.

When Nigella was six months old Sydney went back to work and all of the arrangements she'd made regarding Nigella's care, worked perfectly, especially since her daughter was such a good baby. Preston had arranged to visit her every three weeks while she was tiny, so that she didn't change too much in between visits. However, at every visit he ensured that either Sydney or Nigel were present while he played with, or cuddled, his precious little daughter. The instant she cried though, he'd hand her over to either of them which, of course, Sydney didn't think was that odd, as it seemed to her that a lot of men, and women, did that when a baby cried; so it caused her no concern at all. Preston, on the other hand, still worried; deep down, that a crying baby, or child, might set off his anger if he was alone and it went on too long. Nigel, of course, knew how Preston felt and although he tried to reassure him that he had faith in him, Preston refused to take any chances with his fragile little girl.

By now the two brothers were really close again, just like they were when Nigel was an infant, well before their parents were killed. All of their past jealousies about Sydney and all the ridiculous rivalry; which had caused such problems between them, didn't seem to matter anymore. Life became much happier for Nigel who loved being an uncle and was sailing though his studies with great ease. The three years he'd lost hadn't affected his intelligence, or his memory of what he'd studied or knew about before; which he was truly thankful for!

Nigel began to grow in confidence as time passed and although he still couldn't really fight back when he and Sydney were attacked on relic hunts; if he got angry enough he could throw a good punch… once the adrenaline kicked in and he felt less of a burden to Sydney because of that. Of course, she didn't take him along on too many hunts during this time as he was so busy studying and she wanted to ensure he had as much time to do that as possible.

By the time Nigella was a year old, Sydney had started to notice, once again, how appealing Nigel was as a man. However, for Nigel's sake, she decided to keep those thoughts to herself, as he was still a student, even though he'd already obtained two masters degrees and was well on the way to a couple more. Sydney was so proud of him and although she would never admit it, she'd always known that Nigel fancied her, although she had no idea that he actually loved her!

Nigel's courses were accelerated to enable him to obtain his masters much faster than normal and, to Nigel's delight, most of those professors who had no respect for him before, dramatically change their attitude when they saw how quickly he was able to take in information.

Sydney's feelings for Nigel grew practically daily and she soon found herself making comments, once again, about how sexy he looks. She'd always flirted with him that way and although he'd occasionally misunderstood her intentions, particularly early on in their working relationship; he'd always believed that flirting was just something she did and considered these recent comments were just Sydney being Sydney.

Once Nigel had obtained all of the masters degrees he'd studied for, Sydney could no longer hide her feelings and asked him to take her on a date. Nigel thought she was kidding around and said "yes I'll take you, I'll book a table for three, you'd better bring Karen along for protection; you know what an animal I am!" He laughed, but then he saw Sydney's face, she looked kind of miffed!

"Nigel, I'm not joking, I'd really like to go out with you and I don't mean as a friend!" she said, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

Nigel was stunned; he blushed from head to toe and when reality really hit him, he was so shocked he fell back in his chair and just stared at her.

"Nigel, don't just sit there looking like that, get something arranged for our date!" she said, jokingly, as she saw him sitting there with his mouth agape.

"Oh um, where um, would you like to go Syd? Um, choose anywhere, anywhere at all" he said, trying not to show how nervous he was; but she knew.

"No Nige, you choose" she said, hoping he would take her somewhere that they'd both enjoy, not just somewhere that would please her.

He chose to take her to dinner at a nice little restaurant near his apartment, somewhere Sydney had never been before; but he had. It was a beautiful place, with excellent food, somewhere that Nigel felt comfortable, having become a regular customer during his long days of studying. The bonus being it was run by Mr and Mrs McDonald, a middle aged Scottish couple, who having noticed how exhausted Nigel was when he ate there, took it upon themselves to look after him and always gave him real English style tea with his dinner. He really hoped Sydney would like the restaurant, and the proprietors, as this was the first time he'd taken a date there and Mrs McDonald made quite a fuss of them.

Sydney was highly impressed that Nigel, instead of being extravagant on their first date, bearing in mind he was now very wealthy; chose to take her somewhere romantic and tasteful, rather than somewhere you needed a magnifying glass to find the food on your plate!

After that first evening out they were inseparable; Sydney being amazed at what a wonderful date Nigel turned out to be. He'd told her of numerous disastrous dates he'd been on over the years, so she wasn't expecting too much. However, he proved to be thoughtful, respectful and interested in what she had to say. He never assumed that, just because their relationship had changed, he could behave any differently towards her, particularly at work; apart from being permitted to actually kiss her now, instead of just wishing he could!

As Nigel couldn't hold his drink, he kept that to a minimum, even if Sydney ended up drunk. In that regard, he was always a perfect gentleman and took her home, never expecting more than a kiss at the door. Then one night she asked him in and she wasn't the slightest bit tipsy!

She'd arranged for Nigella to stay with Randall and Jenny, so there would be no distractions, and pulled Nigel by the hand into her house. Once inside she poured out two glasses of wine, took them into her bedroom and called out to Nigel to join her. He was still awfully shy and having only ever slept with two women in his life (as far as he knew, bearing in mind he believed he'd lost three years) he hesitated for a few seconds, but then followed her nervously.

He'd imagined many times what it would be like to make love to his beautiful partner, but he never thought it would actually happen, so his heart was beating a mile a minute! While Sydney freshened up in the bathroom he nervously gulped down his wine, causing him to feel a little lightheaded and his face to turn red.

When she came out of the bathroom she was wearing nothing but a silky black thigh length night gown and as she moved sexily towards him he backed away shyly and fell on the bed. She laid on top him and they kissed passionately for a few minutes, causing Nigel to perspire and feel like he might pass out; but he didn't.

Realising Nigel was still fully clothed she carefully pulled him to his feet where she helped him take off his shirt and trousers; allowing him to get into bed where he removed his underwear. As Sydney was totally aware of Nigel's past, and the upbringing he'd had which caused him to be so shy; she was very careful not to do or say anything that would make him feel uncomfortable. She thought he looked so gorgeous, if a little childlike, just lying there waiting for her to climb into bed with him. He didn't have to wait long as she was soon snuggling up next to him, giving him a reassuring look that said he mustn't worry and that she was all his!

As they made love for the first time Sydney noticed that Nigel's inexperience was not apparent at all. She was astonished and thrilled by his performance in bed, as he was gentle and caring and seemed to instinctively know what she'd like. She wondered how Nigel knew how to pleasure a woman in such delectable ways, but then she remembered that a few years ago they'd been on a relic hunt in Italy, where they found Casanova's Book of Love! After she'd finished reading it she allowed Nigel to take it home as, naturally, being a young man; he was interested in the subject and she was so glad she'd done that now!

The following morning Nigel was led on his front, fast asleep when Sydney, who was in a playful mood, yanked the sheet off him with the intention of slapping his behind to wake him up. She was just about to do that when, to her astonishment, she noticed the scars she was aware he had on his behind, were gone. She put the sheet back on him and gently woke him up to ask him what had happened to them. He blushed from head to toe as he explained that they'd somehow vanished when he was missing and he'd no idea how; although he was, obviously, pleased they'd gone, especially when Sydney said, as she rolled him back onto his front "wow, nice butt!"

Realising that neither of them could think of to explanation as to why Nigel now had perfect skin, they chose to ignore it, as Nigel had already been doing. Of course he was completely unaware of what Preston's horrible thoughts were on the subject; otherwise he'd have been horrified!

Right from the moment they'd made love there was no doubt in either of their minds that they were made for each other. Two weeks after that fantastic evening Nigel moved into Sydney's house, where Preston had also once lived, and they discovered they were amazingly compatible. Sydney had always believed you could never truly know someone until you'd lived with them, so she was delighted when Nigel proved to be, as she'd hoped; thoughtful, caring, sexy and fun. Apart from being a wonderful companion and lover, he helped with the housework and, of course, Nigella, who loved having her handsome uncle around all the time.

Although Nigel was truly happy with Sydney, he did have one concern and that was what Preston would think about him and his ex wife living together. He'd become extremely close to Preston and hated the thought of doing anything that could damage their relationship, recalling how angry he'd been, at first, about Preston marrying Sydney. However, Nigel needn't have worried because after the initial shock that his little brother was actually sleeping with Sydney; and a normal twinge of jealously, Preston considered that Nigel was overdue for some happiness. Then, after further consideration, he realised that should Nigel marry Sydney, or even just continue to live with her, he would never have to worry about Nigella having an unsuitable stepfather; he'd, of course, heard about the rather unruly men that Sydney was normally attracted to!

After about six months of living together Sydney and Nigel got engaged and wanted to get married as soon as possible, however, there was one problem; nobody was 100% certain that Nigel wasn't already married! As far as anyone was aware, Nigel appeared to have taken his passport with him when he went missing, as they'd searched every inch of his apartment back then and never found it. However, when Nigel reappeared and first went back home, he immediately found his passport where he'd left it, in his rucksack! Nobody could explain it but, to be on the safe side, they got Derek Lloyd to use his expertise to make enquires, worldwide, to check if anyone claimed to be Mrs Bailey. Derek actually expected to get one or two women come forward to claim to be his wife; as Nigel was so wealthy; but those that did Derek soon proved to be liars and the wedding date was set.

They got married in England, Sydney having fallen in love with the country whilst relic hunting and because she knew how much Nigel, like Preston, really wanted to have the ceremony there. As Nigel's parents had both passed on, the closest people to him, apart from Preston, were Louisa Wright, her brother Frederick and Professor and Mrs Bally. As Louisa suffered with arthritis and the professor and his wife were now quite elderly, they were unable to tolerate long haul flights and would have had to miss the wedding if it hadn't been held in England.

Another guest that Nigel was so happy to see was Jacob Irons, who was the only teacher Nigel liked at his horrible boarding school. He was now the headmaster of the Cavendish Academy and had transformed the school into a much nicer and happier place, since his promotion nine years ago.

The ceremony did not take place in the same church as Sydney and Preston's wedding, as even though Nigel would have liked it there, he wanted Sydney to choose where to have it; realising that using the same church as before would be difficult for her and probably for Preston too.

Preston, of course, was Nigel's best man which Sydney had no problem with at all; in fact, she'd started to like him again as he'd become such a kind and considerate brother to Nigel and was getting more confident with Nigella.

Sydney chose to wear a beautiful white silk suit, which was far more comfortable than a dress, being more to her taste and was what she believed Nigel would prefer.

She had the same bridesmaids as before, except for Karen, who explained she had some pressing family matters to attend to during the week of the wedding. However, the truth was, Preston was right about Karen's feelings for Nigel; she loved him and couldn't bear to see him marry someone else, especially Sydney! Nigel was always too much in love with Sydney to let Karen's advances affect him and although Sydney was aware that Karen liked him, she had no idea how much!

As Karen was unavailable Sydney asked Cate Hemphill to take her place as a bridesmaid as Cate had settled down quite happily in England, and was now dating Preston!

Randall Fox, once again, gave Sydney away and was much happier to do so this time, as he'd always liked Nigel and felt quite confident that this marriage would last, although he did drag Nigel off to jokingly give him a lecture on how to look after his daughter!

Louisa Wright was, once again, the guest of honour and she simply couldn't hide how delighted and, quite frankly, relieved she was that Nigel had, at last, found happiness. She'd never seen him so confident and realised that had he had an easier life, he'd have probably always been that way. That thought still fresh in her mind she was suddenly filled with joy when she saw Preston hugging Nigel in front of their guests. She recalled how, when Nigel was little, Preston had frowned upon such things so just watching them hugging each other sent a tingle up her spine.

Louisa had missed Nigel terribly over the years, as he rarely got a chance to come home once he'd commenced working with Sydney. That was bad enough, but when the news of his disappearance reached her, the heartache she felt then almost killed her! Luckily her brother, Frederick, who was also a guest at the wedding, took care of her and convinced her that, one day, she'd see him again. That belief, along with her love for Preston, who'd shown such concern for his missing brother, gave her reason to live.

They held the wedding reception at the Dorchester Hotel as Sydney and Nigel had stayed there before and it was close to the selected church, thus allowing many of their guests, who were staying overnight, to walk to the wedding, rather than drive in the crazy London traffic.

They decided to use the Orchid Room for the reception as the ballroom at the Dorchester was fully booked for months ahead. As it turned out, they were glad they did as the room had been beautifully redecorated in blue and gold, just a couple of weeks before the wedding, and looked quite stunning. There was plenty of room to seat all of their guests around large circular tables and also to enable them to dance to the live band that they'd hired for the occasion.

One of their best friends, magician, Rex Rolands, did some amazing conjuring tricks while the band took a break and, of course, he couldn't resist the urge to pull Sydney and Nigel onto the stage to perform with him! The happy couple had once pretended to be Rex's assistants in order to gain entrance to The Magic Mansion, in Atlantic City; Rex wanting them to find a sceptre that was hidden there. Luckily, this time, neither of them was expected to wear an embarrassing outfit!

Just before Sydney and Nigel went on stage Louisa bumped into William Ryker who was wandering through the lobby. She remembered him from Preston's reception and stopped to say hello, thinking he was such a charming young man, although she really knew nothing about him.

Will was actually only there to check that Sydney and Nigel got married! The fact was, in the correct timeline, that's what had to happen although, of course, Sydney had to marry Preston first and give birth to Nigella! All Ryker had intended to do was spend a little time at the reception, rather than the church, believing he would blend in better there; then he'd return to the Enterprise. However, because Louisa stopped him he felt he had to be polite and talk to her for a little while, although he certainly didn't want to run into Nigel!

Louisa and Will discussed how much Preston had changed and the fact that Sydney and Nigel looked so wonderful together. Of course, because of his mission, Will knew practically everything about the Bailey family and all relevant things about Sydney too. As he chatted with Louisa he told her he thought they were destined to have the best looking children imaginable and Louisa, of course, agreed, after all, you only had to look at them; Sydney was simply stunning and Nigel was exceptionally handsome.

As Will and Louisa were talking, the magic show finished and Nigel came out to the lobby to try and find Louisa, hoping to get her opinion of the show and to make sure she was alright. He spotted her sitting a little way off and then, as he got closer, to his utter astonishment, he recognised the man he'd spoken to at the hospital where Nigella was born!

"What are you doing here!" Nigel asked "Do you know Sydney!" He was rather puzzled and wondered, for a minute, if the large man was actually an old boyfriend of his beautiful bride as, at that second, he could think of no other reason he'd have been at the hospital, in Boston and in London right then!

Ryker didn't get a chance to respond as, at that moment, Sydney came out to the lobby, put her arm around Nigel's shoulders and said "there you are darling, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" She immediately looked at Ryker and smiled.

"Sorry, I um don't know your name" Nigel said, looking at Ryker suspiciously; realising he was wrong about him knowing his new wife.

Thinking very quickly he said "I'm William Ryker; I'm a friend of Preston's….. we were at university together."

"I don't remember you!" Preston said, coming up behind him.

Ryker was completely taken by surprise and realising he couldn't explain himself he ran as fast as he could towards the hotel's main entrance. Of course, seeing him run like that caused Sydney and Nigel to become very suspicious and, giving each other one of their special looks, they were immediately hot on his heels, leaving Louisa and Preston staring in shock!

Ryker ran outside into the busy street, just missing a double decker bus as he raced across the road, where he tripped over the curb on the other side, landed awkwardly on the ground and hurt his right elbow and shoulder. As he was slow getting up, it gave the two relic hunters a chance to catch up with him in the park opposite the hotel, where Sydney caught hold of him and pinned him to a large tree, while Nigel again asked "Who are you! Why were you at the hospital in Boston and at our wedding!"

Sydney wondered what Nigel meant by 'the hospital' but she was too busy squeezing her hand into Ryker's throat to ask him right then. Ryker desperately tried to pull her hand away but she loosened her grip a little anyway, to let him speak; hoping he'd say something to clear that up.

"My name's William Ryker, I didn't mean any harm, now let me go!" He tried to pull Sydney's hand away again but she was so strong and he was quite breathless, having run so fast; plus his shoulder and elbow were painful. Even though he was a very large man who, if he was in perfect health, could have hurt her, Sydney was not about to let him get away without an explanation and threw a punch to his jaw, which knocked him to the ground. Nigel then took the opportunity to jump onto his legs to stop him getting up, however, Ryker still managed to sit up even with Nigel sitting there. Seeing Ryker about to push Nigel off, Sydney moved behind him and put her arm around his throat again and squeezed. She was just about to ask him what he wanted, when Ryker managed to tap his combadge and say "three to beam up!"

**PLEASE REVIEW**

**This has been a mammoth chapter to write and the next one might be the same, so please leave a nice review to encourage me to complete the story! Thanks. **

**In the final chapter you will find out what happened on the Enterprise and what amazing piece of news Beverly gives to Sydney!**


	8. Chapter 8

_**I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.**_

_**Information, a phaser is a weapon used on the Enterprise in the 24**__**th**__** century and a medical tricorder diagnoses what is wrong with a person. Beaming/transporting is where a person dematerialises and then a few seconds later they materialise somewhere else.**_

**CHAPTER EIGHT **

Ryker, Sydney and Nigel were instantaneously transported to the Enterprise where they materialised in the transporter chamber with Sydney still kneeling down behind Ryker, with her arm around his neck, and Nigel still sat on his legs! They'd been beamed up by the transporter chief, Miles O'Brien, who upon seeing the commander apparently being choked; took out his phaser and pointed it at Sydney.

"Let the commander go!" Miles shouted, waving his weapon at her and tapping his combadge at the same time "Security to transporter Room 1… now! Commander Ryker's being attacked" he shouted with great urgency.

"On our way" Worf replied.

Sydney immediately let go of Ryker, stood up and raised her hands in the air; feeling totally confused by the predicament they were in. She anxiously looked over at the chief and then down at Nigel, who had his back to O'Brien, but was looking up at her with a frightened expression on his face having realised they were no longer in the park! Nigel turned white and nervously got up; gingerly turning around to see who it was that made Sydney look so worried. He stood next to her with his hands in the air; visibly shaking as he saw the angry Irishman pointing the strange gun towards them.

Believing they'd been in similar situations before, the two relic hunters looked around the ultra modern room for a means of escape, hoping they could get away before the security guards came in, although they could only see one door. The chief, who obviously knew Nigel, was utterly astonished when he realised it was his young friend stood before him and that he'd apparently helped with the attack on Ryker!

Miles was just about to speak to Nigel when the commander suddenly moaned, rubbed his shoulder and shouted "O'Brien!" The chief was so shocked at seeing Nigel he hadn't realised, until then, that Ryker actually needed medical attention. However, upon hearing him shout and seeing the pained expression on his face, Miles tapped his combadge again and shouted "O'Brien to Doctor Crusher!"

"Yes Miles, what's wrong" Beverly asked, hearing the panic in his voice.

"It's the commander, he's been hurt and you're not going to believe this, but Nigel's back; he's with, if I'm not mistaken, Professor Fox, in transporter Room 1!" he said, looking at the three people in transporter chamber, who all heard what he said.

"Nigel what are you doing back here son?" Miles asked, forgetting that Nigel wouldn't remember him or the fact that he'd been there before.

"I, I don't, do I know y…you?" Nigel asked hesitantly; squinting to try and get a better look. Sydney was about to ask her husband the same thing when two young security officers suddenly burst into the transporter room, holding similar weapons to the one that Miles had, and aimed them directly at them.

Upon seeing the two men coming towards them Nigel, without really thinking, stepped in front of Sydney to protect her. However, a second later Worf charged in too, looking like some kind of wild beast, causing Nigel to have panic attack and pass out! Sydney tried to catch him but he fell away from her and landed quite hard on his side. She was almost as shocked as Nigel when she saw the large and very intimidating 'creature' waving a weapon at her.

Worf too was rather stunned when he saw that Nigel was one of the people he'd been called to apprehend, yet regardless of that he wanted to go to his aid when he saw his young friend hit the floor. However, he quickly recalled that Nigel's memory had been wiped and, therefore, he wouldn't remember him, which was why he'd been so frightened in the first place and passed out; he, therefore, left Nigel where he was.

Of course, he still had to deal with Sydney Fox, whom he'd immediately recognised from the holoprograms he'd been involved in and was fully aware of her strength. However, upon meeting the real Sydney for the first time, she appeared to him to be less confident than her holographic counterpart. Nevertheless, he was taking no chances so when she started to crouch down, to check on Nigel, he shouted "stay where you are!" Sydney immediately obeyed him, which convinced Worf it was safe to leave her with his two junior officers while he discussed matters with Ryker.

At that moment Beverly came in and saw Will sitting on the floor with a very pained expression on his face. She then noticed Nigel lying nearby and her motherly instinct kicked in, making her want to attend to him first. Miles, however, quickly advised her that Nigel had only fainted but the commander appeared to be suffering and was getting quite agitated. Believing that Nigel would be fine in a few minutes she attended to Will by waving her medical tricorder over his body, which diagnosed what was wrong, and then applied a hypospray to his arm, which instantly provided some pain relief and enabled him to get up off the floor where, out of earshot of the two visitors, he explained to Worf and Miles what had happened on Earth.

While Worf was with Ryker the security guards allowed Sydney sit on the floor, as she'd asked, very politely, if she could help her husband, who was still lying motionless at her feet. She'd pulled his head onto her lap, hoping he wasn't hurt and noticed how pale he looked as she gently tapped his face to try and bring him around.

Having finished with Ryker Beverley came over to look at Nigel, waved her tricorder over him and repeated the process with Sydney, giving her a reassuring smile when she'd finished.

"You're both perfectly healthy, although Nigel has some nasty bruises on his arm and hip" the doctor said, applying the hypospray, just as he came around.

"Where am I!" Nigel moaned, giving a quick look around the room; suddenly remembering what he'd seen, as the large and angry looking creature came into his view again. Nigel's heart began to pound and a wave of fear overtook him as he cautiously whispered "S..Syd, darling, are y..you OK! He hasn't hurt you has he!"

"No Nige, I'm fine, just stay still a minute" she replied, looking quite worried as she stroked his hair to try and keep him calm.

Sydney was determined to get some questions answered, even though she was feeling quite uneasy and she, therefore, asked Beverly, in an angry tone "What happened to us! How did we get here! And… where the hell is here!"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything right now Professor Fox but everything will be fine" Beverly said, without taking her eyes off the very frightened looking Nigel, who still had Worf in his sight.

"It's Professor Bailey actually; so who are you?" she asked suspiciously

"Oh, you've got married! Congratulations! That's why you're both dressed so smartly! I'm Beverly Crusher I'm, obviously, a doctor." Sydney didn't bother explaining that she'd been called Bailey for quite some time now; having previously married Nigel's brother.

"Now try not to worry, someone will be along in a little while to sort this all out" Beverly said, wishing it was permissible for her to explain everything.

"Do we have a choice?" Sydney asked sarcastically, looking over at Worf and the other two security guards, who were still pointing their weapons at them.

"I'm afraid not, I'm really sorry" Beverly said, looking quite genuine.

Ryker overheard Beverly and Sydney's brief discussion and felt the need to clarify why the two relic hunters were in this predicament, explaining that it wasn't his intention to bring them here, but as Sydney wouldn't let go of him, he had no choice! He felt slightly embarrassed by the fact that this much smaller woman had overpower him, but then realised he'd been in a lot of pain and Nigel had helped her too so, perhaps, it wasn't that bad! After he'd finished his short explanation he left Beverly, Miles, Worf and the security guards with the visitors, quickly said a few more words to Miles and then rushed off to explain the position, privately, to Captain Picard.

Sydney was still none the wiser about how they'd actually got there, as what Ryker told her made little sense; although he appeared to be in a hurry to leave, so asking for further details wasn't an option.

Nigel stayed very close to Sydney and apologised for being so weak and fainting. However, Sydney understood and told him she'd almost done the same and that she'd seen how he tried to prevent the officers from reaching her. This didn't make him feel much better, as he really wanted to protect her!

"Beverley" Sydney suddenly asked "who or what is um?" she motioned with her head towards the Klingon.

"His name's Worf; please don't be alarmed, he won't hurt you or Nigel… unless you attack anyone" Beverly said, looking at Sydney and then at Nigel, who she just wanted to take in her arms and hug, although she decided not to as he was confused enough as it was. She really wished she could stay with them until the captain was free to explain the situation, but she couldn't, she had so many duties that required her attention, she simply had to leave.

Ryker had briefly told O'Brien, before he went to see the captain, what had happened at the wedding, explaining that the attack was caused by a misunderstanding. Miles, therefore, brought the two visitors some water and tried to reassure them that everything would be alright. However, realising that Sydney and Nigel were both feeling pretty shaky, not only because of Worf's intimidating presence, but because they'd been brought to this strange place in a way they could not understand, he permitted them to hug each other. This gave Nigel the opportunity to whisper into Sydney's ear and explain how he'd met Ryker when Nigella was born and that he'd felt then that he'd met him before. However, Nigel had no such feelings about this Irish guy, who seemed to know him and was being quite pleasant right now. Sydney pondered this and then it suddenly occurred to her that Ryker, and these people, might have something to do with Nigel's missing years, which when she mentioned it to Nigel, quite unnerved him!

About an hour later the captain entered the transporter room and smiled at the new arrivals.

"Hello, I'm Jean Luc Picard, I'm the captain of this ship; I believe you're Sydney Bailey and I actually already know Nigel, although he won't remember me; or anyone else here" he said looking at the pair of them; Ryker having already advised him of the confusion at the wedding and that, unfortunately, Miles had let slip that he knew Nigel and that they'd seen Worf. This being the case he really had no choice, if he wanted to return them home without being traumatised, but to explain a few things. He also considered that Nigel deserved to have an explanation, as he'd been so cooperative when he'd previously been on board and had sacrificed his own happiness to ensure the timeline progressed correctly.

He was just about to start the explanation when Sydney, who was obviously feeling very frustrated by being held prisoner, shouted "What the hell do you mean…ship! What ship is this and how is it you all seem to know Nigel!" She looked very baffled and annoyed as she stared at the captain waiting for a reply.

"Sydney, I'm sorry you find yourself in this position but if you'll just calm down I'll try and explain matters" the captain said, noticing Sydney take hold of Nigel's hand.

"What I'm about to tell you might come as a bit of a shock but you're actually…. well…. on a space ship from the 24th century; this ship is called The Enterprise" Jean Luc said, wondering how they'd respond, although he remembered Nigel's previous reaction to this. The captain immediately noticed the sceptical look on Sydney's face as she, quite clearly, thought he was mad. However, he continued "You'll recall, I'm sure, that Nigel went missing … well…. that was because he was on board this ship and that, of course, is how we all know him" he said, believing he knew precisely what Sydney would say next, although Nigel was clearly too shocked to speak!

"Space ship, don't be ridiculous! Just what the hell did you do to him you monsters! He was traumatised by whatever it was!" she said angrily, wondering if what Jean Luc had said was actually possible, as they were definitely in an unusual room and then there was Worf''..…well he could be an alien.

She felt so powerless, something she wasn't used to, but the door was guarded, so there was no chance of escape and besides, Nigel was now so stunned by the captain's explanation, he wouldn't be able to run right now if he tried. He was holding onto Sydney tightly, trying to steady himself; wanting desperately to know what had happened to him, yet fearing what he might hear at the same time.

"Sydney, please try to relax and listen! I'm sorry, but you are in outer space, just behind the Moon actually" the captain said, realising how difficult it was going to be to explain things without making himself, and the members of his crew, sound like evil kidnappers. He really needed to show them that he wasn't a bad person and, therefore, noticing Nigel looked quite ill, he helped him to sit on the floor, there being no chairs or other furniture in this futuristic room and then offered them food and more water. Of course, having eaten a huge meal at their wedding reception, neither wanted food, but they accepted the water.

"Look Sydney" Jean Luc said "I think it might be best if I start from the beginning, but please don't interrupt me, let me finish what I have to say as it's quite complicated."

Sydney just stared at him not knowing really what to think, as Captain Jean Luc Picard certainly appeared to be genuine, although it just sounded so farfetched.

The captain went on "I'm sure you'll recall, just before Nigel disappeared, you received a telephone call from your friend, Harry Platt, who asked you to go to the Grand Canyon to search for some relics." Sydney nodded. "Well it was actually us that made that call, using a computer to imitate Harry's voice. We needed to ensure you'd believe it was him and that you'd want to go and see him. A little while before that, while you were in England, we infected Nigel with a virus, nothing dangerous I assure you, it was just to ensure that, one way or another, he'd feel unable to go relic hunting with you. Although, just to make absolutely certain you didn't drag him off to the airport, immediately after we'd called, we'd checked earlier that Nigel had left his rucksack at home; thus he'd have to go there to get it. It was while he was at his front door that we sedated him and then transported him here."

Nigel tried to speak but all he could get out was "wa..what!" and squeezed Sydney's hand, hoping she'd ask why he'd been taken. Although Sydney was desperate to speak she realised it would be best to let the man continue, as he was certainly knowledgeable about the circumstances leading up to Nigel's disappearance. She, therefore, put her arm around Nigel's shoulders to try and relax him.

Jean Luc could see that Nigel was getting upset but he still continued "before we left with Nigel we removed his passport from his rucksack in his apartment, thus ensuring you'd initially believe he was travelling abroad. Of course, we realised you'd be extremely distressed when he didn't contact you after a while, but there was little we could do about that; I'm sorry."

"Why couldn't you have sent some computerised messages from him, to put my mind at rest?" Sydney asked, looking really annoyed.

"I'm afraid it was actually necessary for you to believe he wasn't coming back for quite some time, as I'll explain later. Now, you'll have probably noticed we returned his passport to his apartment when we brought him back to Earth." Sydney nodded again, but she actually wanted to interrupt once more, as she'd so many questions; however, Jean Luc stopped her and continued "we were going to leave it in Nigel's pocket when we left him outside the hospital; however, because he was so deeply asleep, it could have been stolen and we realised too that, with his passport in his pocket, he'd have been immediately identified; something we didn't want happening too fast. You see we'd given him some drugs which, I promise, were very necessary, as we didn't want him woken too soon; because that could have had a detrimental effect on him. We were pretty sure the doctors would just let him sleep if nobody was pushing to wake him."

"That was a terrible thing you did captain!" Sydney shouted, not able to hold her tongue any longer "Preston and I were out of our minds with worry, why the hell did you need him so badly anyway! And why, in heavens name, didn't you want me thinking he'd be back soon? I was devastated!"

"Sydney, I'm really sorry for causing you so much grief, it was entirely my fault, but we did it because it was so vitally important to everyone on this ship and to the people of the 24th century, that he was kept here."

"But why!" she yelled

"Yes! What could possibly be so important that you had to take me like that, and drug me too!" Nigel said; managing to find his voice at last, although it was rather squeaky as he was so nervous.

"Sydney… Nigel…. don't get so agitated and I'll try and explain" Jean Luc said, realising that what he had to say was going to be very difficult for both of them.

There then followed a short conversation where the Captain explained, very basically, about the disruption of the timeline and why they had to get Preston over to America to marry Sydney and ultimately produce Nigella to correct it. Sydney realised then that these people knew exactly how she felt about Nigel before his disappearance which, naturally, explained why they didn't want her thinking he'd be coming back soon!

"I know I should have thought it through more carefully" Jean Luc said, looking quite guilty "Doctor Crusher was extremely angry with me for handling it so badly; I can tell you!"

Nigel was quite stunned by the explanation but managed to say "what I don't understand is why it mattered if I was around or not. OK, I'd have been angry about Sydney dating and marrying Preston, but so what, I wouldn't have murdered my own brother you know! Don't you think what you did was a bit extreme!"

"Nigel, I think your wife knows exactly why" Jean Luc said, looking at Sydney.

"I guess what you're getting at is that if Nigel had stayed around, we'd have fallen in love and married a whole lot sooner and none of the things that happened while he was on this ship, would have occurred; including the birth of my daughter."

Jean Luc smiled at Sydney and Nigel looked at her with his mouth agape and said "dar..darling I had no idea you felt like that about me back then!….But I loved you from the moment I saw you" he said, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her close.

"Nige, when we first met you were too young and inexperienced to know what love was, it was just a crush honey, that's all" she said looking adoringly into his eyes.

"No Syd, it wasn't, I've always loved you, I.. I was always too shy and scared to say anything; after all, the men you dated were well… so different; I could never have competed with them" he said, looking down shyly and blushing.

Sydney smiled, kissed him gently and said "honey we can talk about this another time" hoping, if he really did feel that way all of the time, that she hadn't hurt his feelings too much with the way she behaved.

The newlyweds hugged each other for a few more minutes and then Nigel began to wonder more about his previous visit to the ship and said "Sir, there's a couple of things still bothering me."

"Only a couple!" Jean Luc said, jokingly.

Nigel smiled and said "yes well maybe a few more, but I really want to know why I can't remember being here before and why, when you returned me to Earth, after three years, I looked and felt more or less exactly the same? Did you, um, give me something to keep me looking young? I certainly didn't look 27"

Jean Luc put his arm around Nigel's shoulders and explained how it had actually only taken six weeks to get the timeline back on track and that during that time they'd gradually moved forward in time; so when he arrived home it was three years later!

Nigel was staggered and said "bloody hell; that means I was still 24 when you sent me home!"

"That's correct Nigel" Jean Luc said, noticing how pleased the young man looked.

Sydney, of course, understood too but felt a little perturbed, although she didn't say anything to her husband or Jean Luc. Nigel, on the other hand, was delighted as it had always bothered him that three years of his life had been stolen!

"Sir I'm so glad you cleared that up for me, but um, you still haven't said why I can't remember being here" Nigel said, recalling Jean Luc had mentioned drugging him before they returned him to Earth and considering now that that might have caused his amnesia.

"Well Nigel, while you were here not only did you see a lot of futuristic inventions but because we wanted to you understand why we needed you here, we told you certain things about the future which, by rights, we shouldn't have. As I explained earlier, it's very dangerous to know the future as you could either deliberately, or accidentally, change it which, of course, would then mean the timeline would be off track again" the captain said, noticing that both Sydney and Nigel were hanging on his every word. He then explained about the process they used to erase Nigel's memory and the fact that Beverly had left memories of his parents in his brain that would surface as dreams, although he didn't go into any detail about the Holodeck where those memories came from, as he felt that was unnecessary.

Nigel was a little shaken by that but both he and Sydney, being very intelligent people, understood the necessity and he'd never had any problems with his memory since.

"Are you going to erase our memories before you send us home this time?" Nigel asked, hoping they wouldn't.

"No, we don't need to do that as nobody has revealed anything to either of you about the future, apart from Nigella being very important one day. Of course, you already know how stupid it would be to tell anyone you'd been abducted by aliens because, obviously, your credibility would be lost. We're actually perfectly happy with Nigel knowing why he was needed here before, because everything we told him has already happened, so even if you do tell people about this when you get home, it won't affect the future" Jean Luc said, quite truthfully.

"So what has Nigella actually got to do with this" Sydney asked, suddenly feeling worried again as being important could mean anything.

"I'm very sorry but as I said, I can't reveal the future to you, all I can say is that she'll make you extremely proud of her and that she's crucial to our very existence!" the captain said, quite seriously.

Sydney and Nigel both looked surprised and then Nigel had another thought and asked, realising he'd been home for quite a while now "um, Sir, if the timeline's back on track, why are you still here?"

"Well son that's because the Enterprise, as I said before, has been moving forward, and occasionally backwards, in time so, in fact, it's only been ten days since you left the ship, and there are still a few things that we need to check, a bit further on in the future, before we can go back to our own time. We have to be absolutely certain about everything before we leave" the captain said, hoping neither of them would insist on more information.

Understanding Jean Luc's reasoning, but wanting to learn more about where Nigel had been, Sydney decided to ask "would you mind if we have a tour of the ship? I'd really love to see it before we go home."

Jean Luc was a little worried about that as he didn't want anything to complicate their return to Earth. However, he thought he'd ask Nigel how he felt about seeing the ship and he replied "I'd like to, if that's OK with you!"

The captain was rather surprised that Nigel actually wanted to do that, believing he'd prefer to get away as quickly as possible; although he then remembered how devoted Nigel had always been to Sydney and realised he'd probably do anything to please his beautiful wife!

"Well I suppose it'll be alright if I just show you the quarters you stayed when you were last here Nigel, it's got large windows, so you'll be able to see outside" the captain said, guiding them through the transporter room door and along a couple of corridors. Sydney and Nigel both felt quite apprehensive, yet excited at the same time, at the prospect of seeing some physical proof that they were in outer space. However, there was nothing that could have prepared them for magnificent views of the Moon and stars that greeted them as they entered Nigel's old room! They both stood there with their mouths agape and their hearts thumping as they gazed out of the windows as never in a million years did they think they'd see something so spectacular.

"Isn't it beautiful?" The captain said, waving his hand towards the windows as he watched Sydney and Nigel's reactions.

"It's absolutely breathtaking!" Sydney said, putting her arm around Nigel as they gingerly walked towards the windows "it cert…certainly is" Nigel said, his mouth still agape as he wondered what he thought about this first time he'd been there.

Nigel slowly walked around the room trying to see if he recognised anything at all, but he didn't, which was a little upsetting as he felt he should, even if his memory had been interfered with. He felt a little sad and then, to his utter astonishment, he noticed something very familiar indeed and shouted "Hey, that's my bear! How the hell did it get here!" He felt quite bewildered as he'd left his bear at home in America before he flew to London to get married.

"Nigel it's just a replica of your bear, Beverly Crusher wanted you to have something to make you feel more at home; she looked after you like a mother while you were here" the captain said, smiling at Nigel.

"But it looks exactly the same; it even has the same bit of fir missing from its back!" Nigel said, examining the bear.

"Well it's a very good replica Nigel" Jean Luc said, not wanting to give him information about how they can now replicate almost anything.

Seeing the bear completely convinced Nigel that he'd been there before and that these people, particularly Doctor Crusher; must have been very kind to him to have gone to such lengths to make him feel comfortable. He also felt such total relief that he'd finally found out what had happened to him, as not only had he felt cheated out of three years of his life, but he'd been terrified of discovering something horrific had happened! Sadly, he realised he wouldn't be able to tell Preston the truth, although he really wished he could. He knew his brother still fretted about those missing years, as he'd get quite upset if Nigel didn't keep in regular contact with him.

Jean Luc could see that Nigel was looking a lot happier, which eased his guilt somewhat about the treatment he'd given to the young man, realising that now, with the timeline back on track, many of the things that Nigel wants will be possible and, of course, the main thing had already happened, as he'd married Sydney!

Having been on the ship for several hours they'd both started wondering how they were going to explain to their guests, at the wedding reception; where they'd been! Nigel looked very worried and said "my nanny and brother will be worried sick about us; we've been gone for ages!"

"Don't fret about that Nigel, we can go back in time fractionally and place you back on Earth just a little while after you left; your family and guests will be none the wiser and you can just say you didn't catch the man you were chasing" the captain said, hoping that made sense to them. "Oh and by the way, I don't think it will cause any problem to the timeline if I reveal that you're both going to live long and very happy lives and be extremely successful; so you can just relax and enjoy the rest of your special day, alright?"

They both smiled, as by now they were quite ready to be sent back to Earth and were delighted that they'd been provided with the knowledge that Nigella would be important to the future of the world, even if they didn't know how, and that they'll be happy and do well.

Before the captain sent the two visitors home he considered that several people on board the Enterprise might like the opportunity to see Nigel again; even though it had only been ten days since they'd last seen him. He, therefore, gave the order that any crew members who wished to say a final farewell to him should assemble in the transporter room and wait there.

Sydney and Nigel had no idea who most of the people were, but Jean Luc explained that everyone there had previously been a good friend of Nigel's or had interacted with him in some way. Beverly, of course, knew Nigel the best and realised he was feeling a little awkward and, therefore, to break the ice, she introduced him and Sydney to Guinan, Deanna, Geordi and finally Data.

Upon seeing the worried expression on Nigel's face, as he looked at the pale faced 'man' the doctor explained who Data was. Nigel was, once again, quite astonished that an android could be so human; as was Sydney!

Feeling a little more relaxed, having met several people whom they liked very much, Sydney enjoyed hearing about what Nigel got up to on his previous visit, although it brought to Nigel's mind the embarrassing, yet comical, stories his nanny told about him when he was a small child; of course, he could, at least, remember doing most of those things!

As Nigel was looking quite happy talking with the crew, Beverly took the opportunity to call Sydney over, having noticed earlier that her beautiful white wedding suit was grass stained; obviously from her tussle with Will! Realising that a bride would generally be quite unhappy about that, Beverly waved a strange looking device over her clothes and the stains disappeared! Sydney hadn't noticed the dirt until then, not being the fussy type and being quite used to dust and grime, but she was pleased, nonetheless, to see it clean. Beverly then whispered something in Sydney's ear, which initially delighted her; then, for some unknown reason, the delight on her face disappeared, only to be replaced by concern, as she looked across the room at her handsome husband. She forced a smile back on her face, not wishing anyone to notice how anxious she was feeling and returned to Nigel's side.

As Sydney watched Deanna and Guinan hug Nigel very tightly and then notice Beverly do the same, it became very apparent to her that those women really cared about him and any fears she might have had, at the back of her mind, about Nigel's treatment on board the ship, completely vanished. She felt the same when she saw Geordi, Will, Miles and Jean Luc either hug him or shake his hand.

Data, on the other hand, not being human, was different, but Sydney could still tell that he liked Nigel and that he must have interacted with her husband a lot.

Worf, not wanting to frighten Nigel, had stayed to one side of the room and watched the gathering. However, realising that Data could go on for hours talking to the young man, he interrupted them, being very careful not to appear aggressive, which was actually quite difficult for the Klingon! He smiled at Nigel and told him not to be alarmed, advising that they'd become good friends when he was previously on the ship and that he was sorry for scaring him earlier. Nigel nervously smiled back; and said "um, it's nice to meet you um, Sir."

"Nigel, please call me Worf, we are friends, remember?" Worf said, holding out his large hand for Nigel to shake.

"Um yes Sir; um Worf" Nigel said; taking the Klingon's hand to shake it; hoping that the large 'man' wouldn't squeeze too hard! Worf was, in fact, very gentle, as he recalled Beverly's warning from a few weeks back, to remember that 'Nigel is not Klingon!' Worf genuinely liked Nigel, regardless of whether or not they had a lot in common and congratulated him sincerely on marrying such a beautiful warrior!

Once Nigel had finished speaking to Worf he thought of one more thing that he wanted to find out before he was sent back home and to do that he needed to speak to Beverly who'd been watching him and Worf the entire time.

"Um Doctor, could I please ask you something?" he said, looking a little embarrassed and taking hold of her arm to guide her away from everyone else.

"What is it sweetie?" she asked, noticing he was blushing.

"Um, well you know when I was here before?" he smiled shyly "did you um, well um, did you remove, you know?" Nigel said, indicating behind him with his head.

"Oh you mean the scars! Yes I did sweetie, but don't tell Jean Luc, I wasn't supposed to do that! I just wanted to help you be more confident and I felt that that kind of imperfection was holding you back. Has it helped Nigel?" Beverly asked; noticing Nigel was now scarlet!

"Yes, thank you" he said very quickly, looking around to see if anyone else heard what she said, and feeling quite glad that they hadn't!

As Nigel was gazing around the room he noticed Commander Ryker stood by himself near the transporter console and thought, once again, how familiar he looked. He wondered, for a moment, if that was because he'd met him when he was previously on the ship, although as he couldn't remember anything else he thought that was unlikely. Therefore, bearing in mind everything he'd heard about time travel, he decided to ask Will if they'd actually met in the past, other than at the hospital that one time.

Will looked quite surprised by the question but decided there was no harm in telling Nigel things about the past and said "actually both you and your brother have met me before; when you were children!" Nigel looked really intrigued as Ryker continued "You were both playing in a fenced off area of a park and had I not been there, both you and Preston would have been killed by a car that swerved out of control, knocked down the fence and careered into the playground!"

Nigel, even though he was only two years old at the time, remembered the incident quite clearly and then recalled it was Ryker who'd picked him up out of the sandpit, grabbed hold of Preston and carried them both to safety; just seconds before the car came to a halt right where they'd been playing! He also remembered that by the time Louisa Wright, who'd been buying some ice cream from a van parked by the playground, turned around; Ryker had vanished!

"Sir you saved me and my brother's life! Thank you, thank you so much….. but….. how did you know that, and those other things, were going to happen?" Nigel asked, feeling completely stunned by what he'd been told.

Ryker explained how a time traveller had visited them on the Enterprise and warned them of the disruption to the timeline and of the horrible future that would become a reality if things were not reversed.

Nigel looked fascinated as Ryker went on "it was that time traveller who provided us with the details of the first change to the timeline and what had to be done to correct it. That's why I had to go back in time to just a few minutes before the change occurred; to prevent it happening and keep the timeline as it should be. Nigel, that's when I saved your lives because, obviously, in the alternate timeline, both you and you brother were killed!" Nigel was dumbfounded as Ryker went on "however, a second attempt was made to disrupt things when you and Sydney were in England and she began to fall in love with you when, in the correct timeline, she'd have initially fallen for Preston" the commander said, looking at Nigel who'd been listening so carefully.

"So um, how exactly did the timeline get altered Sir?" Nigel asked, noticing Ryker give him a wide smile.

"I thought that's what you were going to ask and I supposed Captain Picard won't mind me telling you this time, we kept it from you before though, because you were so frightened. You see Nigel; it was actually changed by an entity called Q, who's a very powerful being! He can travel through time, stop time, cause or prevent death, create life and Nigel; he can make people do things they'd no intention of doing, like with Sydney! He appears on the Enterprise from time to time and usually causes us a few problems by using his powers; although he mostly acts like a mischievous child and treats us like his toys! The reason he apparently changed the timeline was because he'd grown bored with us and wanted to see what we'd be like in an alternate future. The thing is; he didn't like what we became when he changed things, as we were aggressive and not so easily played with; so he intended to change it back. Then, just for fun, he decided he might enjoy watching us repair the timeline and that's what we were doing when we brought you here" Ryker said; realising Nigel was looking quite shocked. "Nigel, don't worry, Q won't ever do that again, he hated what we became!"

"I guess he won't, but he does sound like a rather spoilt child!" Nigel said, wondering what this Q character looked like.

"Actually Nigel, that's exactly how he behaves!" the commander said, suddenly noticing that Jean Luc was trying to attract his attention; so he excused himself.

Once everyone had said their goodbyes, Will directed Sydney and Nigel to the transporter chamber and told them to stand very still; which made them feel a little nervous! However, Ryker reminded them that it was completely painless and that Nigel had been transported three times and he was fine, as was the entire crew who beam in and out of the ship all the time. This calmed them a little but just as they thought they were going to be beamed out, Jean Luc put a small silver tube into Nigel's hand and said "son, don't open that until you've been on your honeymoon and have returned to work, you'll regret it if you do. You don't need to know what's in it; just that it's something you'll be delighted with at the right time, so do you promise?"

Nigel looked confused but said "Um, yes Sir, alright" but then he noticed Sydney eyeing the tube suspiciously and realised she needed a bit of reassurance that the content of the tube was nothing to worry about, remembering she always hated anything on a 'need to know basis!'

Jean Luc saw the look too and said "Sydney, all it is is a gift which I think you should open when you're both back at work. It'll make you particularly happy, but Nigel will be glad to have it too, as long as you open it after your honeymoon; so will you do that?"

By now Sydney felt she could trust the captain and promised she would forget about it for a couple of weeks, although, secretly, she wasn't sure that she could!

Jean Luc got off the transporter platform; they heard the words "two to beam down" and the next thing they knew they were stood next to the tree where they'd fought with Ryker! Everything looked exactly as it did before they'd been to the Enterprise and, luckily, nobody was around to see them reappear. They, therefore, made their way back to the hotel hoping that what Jean Luc said about only a little while passing was correct.

As soon as they entered the lobby they were relieved to see that Louisa was still sitting in the same chair where she'd been talking to Ryker, although she was now sitting with Preston, stroking his hair. The moment Louisa saw them come through the door she jumped up and asked "did you catch him?"

"Oh no nana, he got away" Nigel said, smiling and giving her an innocent look, hoping she couldn't tell he was lying. Louisa, of course, had known Nigel all his life and knew when he was keeping something from her, however, she chose not to quiz him about it as, after all, he was an adult and as such he didn't have to tell her everything. Nevertheless she did give him a knowing look, which made Nigel blush!

Preston looked very upset and putting his hands on Nigel's shoulders he shook him a couple of times, and said "don't you dare do that again! That man was twice your size; he could have killed you if you'd have gotten into a fight!"

"Sorry Pres" Nigel replied, looking down at the floor "I didn't mean to worry you; I doubt we'll see him again….um, he was probably just a party crasher." He gave his big brother an apologetic look, hoping he'd leave it at that.

"Yes, I suppose so" Preston said "I definitely didn't know him"

"Oh well, it doesn't look as if the guy did any harm so let's just forget about it and enjoy the rest of the day" Nigel said, looking at Preston and Louisa who were giving him a look that meant 'we know you're not telling us everything!'

Nigel continued to blush and then he turned to Sydney and said "I need a drink; what about you?"

"Definitely" she replied, taking hold of Nigel's hand as they walked quickly back into the Orchid Room.

As they walked through the door the band began to play some lovely romantic music, prompting Nigel to gently pull Sydney into his arms to dance. At first their guests applauded them but after a few minutes they joined them on the dance floor, obviously, thinking what a stunning looking couple they were.

As the newlyweds danced Sydney's mind started to wonder as she mulled over the events of the past few hours. Nigel was quick to notice she was distracted and asked "darling, are you OK? You look worried, what is it? Is it to do with, you know….. being up there?"

"I guess I was thinking about it… sorry… oh… let's forget it for now honey, we'll talk later, OK?" she said, smiling at her adorable young husband. He held her gently and they began to kiss but Nigel, being quite sensitive, could still tell she had something on her mind, although he considered it might have something to do with the silver tube in his pocket. However, not wishing to make matters worse by pressing her for an explanation, he said nothing more about it, realising from experience, she'd tell him in her own good time.

The wedding reception went really well, just as they'd hoped it would. The newlyweds danced to the band, watched Rex Rolands do some more magic tricks and talked with as many guests as possible. People constantly came up to them to wish them happiness and good fortune, although a few people rudely commented on how strange it was that Nigel had married his brother's ex wife! Sydney and Nigel just ignored that and referred them to Preston; who was very happily dancing with Nigel's ex girlfriend, Cate!

When the last of their guests had either gone to bed or left, the bride and groom retired to bed too, although It was midnight before they'd managed to get away from the last stragglers who, obviously, had absolutely no idea what an extremely long day they'd had!

They were staying in the bridal suite at the Dorchester, which was elegantly decorated in various shades of blue and was really quite enormous, consisting of several rooms; the bedroom having one of the biggest double beds they'd ever seen!

Although Nigel was very tired, he felt on top of the world; he'd gotten married to the most wonderful woman in the world; had discovered that he'd only missed six weeks of his life, instead of three years, and he actually knew he was going to have a very happy life!

Sydney was feeling much the same, apart from, deep down; she was worrying about a couple of things she needed to discuss with Nigel.

Having showered, cleaned his teeth and put on his blue silk dressing gown, Nigel came out of the bathroom and looked at Sydney, who'd already showered and was lying on top of the bed wearing an exquisite white lace negligee. His heart began pounding; the love he felt for her was almost overwhelming and tears of joy pooled up in his eyes as he walked over and climbed on top of the huge bed with her. He looked into her eyes and was about to put his arms around her when she smiled and said "Nige, can we talk for a few minutes?"

"Um, yes of course Syd; what um would you like to talk about?" he asked, suddenly noticing she wasn't making eye contact with him. "Are you still worrying about something darling, is it that tube?"

"I guess I am a little, Nige but it's not about the tube" she replied, looking down at the floor.

"What is it then? Tell me please; did I do something wrong!" he asked, feeling a little nervous.

"No honey, you haven't" she said, half smiling "it's just, well.. you remember what Jean Luc said about you only being on the ship for six weeks; yet three years had passed down here?"

"Yes, of course I do, I know it's really odd; but it's a lot better than some of the things that had gone through my mind!" he said, wondering where this was going.

"You do realise that that means I'm physically eleven years older than you, don't you?" she said, looking into his sweet face which, although he'd celebrated his 29th birthday just a couple of months before, he was still quite baby-faced; obviously, because he was actually only 26!

"Syd, no! You're not thinking I'm too young for you, surely!" he said with alarm; jumping off the bed and looking at her in shock.

"No Nige, the other way round" she said looking at him to see his reaction.

"What! I don't care about that, I never did care; eight years, eleven or twenty years, I love you; age has nothing to do with it!" he said, looking deeply concerned.

"Nigel I'm 37, it seems such a big age gap and as I get older you'll notice me losing my looks and you'll probably want someone younger" she said, feeling the need to be truthful.

"That's utter rubbish Syd! Do you remember how devastated I was when Cate dumped me because of my age? How could you think I'd do something as hypocritical as that to you, I love you more than life itself!" he said, meaning every word, his voice practically screeching.

"Honey are you sure, really sure?... because I love you more than that!" she said; the tears falling down her face realising, of course, that this was not just some idiotic kid who wouldn't know the difference between love and a carrot! This was Nigel, her wonderful intelligent and adorable Nigel.

"Yes Syd, of course I'm sure, there's nobody else on this planet I want" Nigel said, suddenly noticing her smiling from ear to ear. "Of course, I may want a woman who looks like Worf in a couple of years as well" he said, doubling over with laughter.

She jumped off the bed and caught hold of him, slapped him on the behind and yelled "get on that bed right now, you little devil!" He leapt on the bed, quickly followed by Sydney and they hugged, kissed and giggled and then, of course, consummated their marriage.

Feeling so content Nigel was ready to go to sleep, but as he turned to his wife to say goodnight he noticed she was, once again, deep in thought. Wondering what it was this time he sleepily asked "what is it darling? You're surly not still worrying about that silly age thing are you?"

"No, it's not that honey" she said, sitting up on the bed with her hands on her stomach.

"Then what's bothering you? Please tell me or I'll never get to sleep" he said, putting on that innocent look he'd use earlier with his nanny and Preston.

"Honey, do you remember when Beverly called me over, just before they beamed us off the ship?" she asked.

"Yes, of course, I saw her wave that thing that cleaned your suit" he replied, wondering what the problem was.

"Well she didn't just do that, she told me something I guess you should know, although I'm not sure you'll be happy about it right at this moment; but it's kind of important" she said, being rather vague.

"What did she say Syd? Was it something about me? They didn't do something weird to me… did they!" he asked, feeling quite concerned.

Sydney looked into his eyes and said "I'm sure they didn't do anything more than keep you there Nige. It's just…. well I'm pregnant…. you're going to be a father… a father of twins!"

Nigel eyes almost popped out of their sockets and he jumped up and screamed "What! Is it true! You're not joking are you!" he said, with the biggest smile ever on his face.

"No honey, I'm not joking, it's true; are you pleased?" she asked, smiling really widely, as it was perfectly clear, he was ecstatic!

"Syd it's the best news I've ever had!" He jumped on the bed, knelt in front of her and then hugged her very tightly saying "you are certain about this aren't you? It's not just because Doctor Crusher told you, is it?"

"No, I'm certain Nige, I've been suspicious for a couple of weeks; Beverly just confirmed it. Apparently when she waved that thing at you, after you fainted, it told her what was wrong; but when she waved it at me, it told her I was pregnant with twins! Honey, I thought you'd be terrified of the responsibility so soon after getting married" Sydney said, realising, once again, that this was Nigel, not one of those idiots she used to date!

"I guess I am a little scared Syd;….. but I'll get over it!" Nigel said, as he snuggled up to her again, let out a satisfied sigh and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

They spent the next two weeks in England visiting many other places they'd been relic hunting in the past; places like Chepstow Castle, Tintern Abbey and Stonehenge; only this time they behaved like tourists and enjoyed having the chance to take in the beauty of the English and Welsh countryside. Nigel was delighted to be able to show Sydney around London too, something he'd wanted to do for a long time and he made sure she enjoyed every moment of it.

Then all too soon it was time to leave and they called in to collect Nigella from the London house where she'd been staying with her father, enabling the newlyweds to have some time alone. Preston had employed a babysitter to entertain Nigella, but Louisa actually looked after her with quite a lot of help from Preston, who enjoyed being a father, as long as he had help with his daughter, whom he considered was as bright as Nigel when he was an infant.

While they were in the drawing room getting ready to leave, Preston gave Nigel his usual lecture about ensuring that, whilst he was on a hunt, he didn't attempt to fight anyone bigger than himself and to remember to call at least twice a week to let him know he was safe. This overprotective behaviour began when Nigel reappeared after those three years, as Preston had been so distraught; he'd never quite got over it.

Since Nigel now knew the truth about where he'd been, he seriously considered fabricating a story about what had happened to help alleviate Preston's worries. The problem was; he was useless at lying and Preston was almost as good as Louisa at spotting when he was hiding something. Therefore, Nigel considered the best course of action was to do as Preston asked, because he hated his brother and Louisa constantly worrying about him and it wasn't that much to ask anyway.

As soon as the newlyweds got back home the first thing Sydney wanted to do was find out what was in the silver tube that Jean Luc gave Nigel. Nigel was very curious too, so even before they went back to Trinity they sat in the kitchen at home and opened it. To their astonishment there was a letter inside, from Jean Luc, which advised that they'd used their sophisticated technology, on board the Enterprise, to locate the cavern in the Grand Canyon where those Hopi relics were hidden; the same cavern that the Hopi's had been searching for for two hundred years! The letter went on to say that had they not been inadvertently beamed to the Enterprise they would have still received this gift, although it would have been placed in their bedroom, with little or no explanation! He also told them that Miles O'Brien had already beamed down into the cavern to ensure it was the correct place; so all they had to do now was find it. To help them with that there was a small map which explained exactly where the entrance to the cavern was. Sydney wanted to get on a plane for Vegas that very night but, of course, they had to go back to work the following day.

Nigel smiled at Sydney and said "I think I know why Captain Picard didn't want that opened before we'd been on our honeymoon now!"

On their first day back at work they found their office, which they now shared, was completely full of gifts and flowers from many of their colleagues and students. Everyone at Trinity, including the Dean, was delighted that the two of them had married, even though, in the past, it was frowned upon to have married couples on staff. They, of course, ignored the rules when Sydney married Preston but they completely changed them once Sydney and Nigel got engaged, as they were so worried that the valuable couple would leave!

On the Friday evening, after work, Sydney went to her father's house to explain to Nigella that she'd have to stay with her granddad and Jenny for a couple of nights as mummy and Uncle Nigel had to do something that little girls wouldn't enjoy. Feeling a little guilty, bearing in mind they'd so recently left her with Preston, they flew off to Vegas having promised to bring her back a really nice present.

Las Vegas was always a fun place to be, but this time all they wanted to do was find the Hopi relics and get back home to Nigella. Therefore, immediately upon arrival, they hired a Jeep and drove to the Grand Canyon, making sure they had with them a camera, plenty of ropes, torches and, of course, Nigel's laptop. Using the map from the tube they quickly located the entrance to the cavern and very gingerly made their way through a series of tunnels noticing, as they got further in, some amazing paintings on the walls. Both Sydney and Nigel were fascinated by the paintings but, for now, Nigel very carefully photographed them, realising they could spend hours working out what each one meant. To ensure they'd be able to find their way out, they drew arrows on the walls with chalk, all pointing towards the entrance; as otherwise that could be difficult to find.

As they walked deeper and deeper into the tunnels they started to think they might have taken a wrong turning, as they began to notice piles of bones lying on the floor, which were, in fact, human! Nigel really hated that, although he'd grown used to seeing them on various hunts over the years and very carefully stepped over them. He was then taken completely by surprise as he came face to face with a large skull, stuck on the end of a stick, which he believed was a warning to keep intruders out! Of course, Sydney wasn't going to be put off by that and kept moving forward with Nigel staying quite close to her side.

After walking past the skull for about ten minutes, they came to what looked like a dead end; however, Sydney noticed a small crack on the left side of the wall and was able to locate a tiny lever inside, which she, quite naturally, pulled down. There was a loud rumble and a lot of dust came gushing towards them, causing Nigel to grabbed hold of Sydney and pulled her to the floor, just seconds before a stream of arrows shot out from some well disguised holes in the tunnel walls!

"Thanks Nigel!" Sydney said, almost choking in the dust.

"You OK Syd! Are the babies alright!" Nigel yelled; suddenly realising he'd twisted his arm when he'd pulled Sydney to the ground.

"Yeah, you OK honey" she asked, noticing his face looked like he was hurting.

"I could do with a bit of that spray stuff that Doctor Crusher had, but really, I'm fine, let's just see if we can find the cavern and get the hell out of here!" Nigel said, putting on a brave face and helping her up, with his good arm.

It was obvious this was no dead end and a few minutes later they managed to locate a further lever, in the same crack, but lower down. This time they pulled it up and to their utter astonishment a large hole appeared in the floor; about three feet away from them! They carefully crawled to the edge and were stunned and delighted to see a massive cave below, full of what they could only assume were Hopi artefacts! Luckily, leading right from the edge of the hole was a sloping expanse of rock, which they were able to half walk and half slide down, having tied ropes around a jagged piece of rock at the top of the hole, and round their waists; ensuring they wouldn't slip or slide too fast. They soon reached the main cave, which was absolutely amazing and, as luck would have it, there was a small amount of light coming from some holes in the cavern ceiling. There were some small pools of water scattered here and there, obviously, from rain coming though the cave roof, but the main cave was basically dry and had, obviously, not flooded when the Hopi's used the cave or even after they left.

They spent over three hours down there documenting as much as possible, taking photographs and discussing what they considered the various items were used for. As they started to get ready to leave they realised that this had to be one of the most important finds of Native American artefacts ever made and, therefore, it would not only be good for the Hopi's, but good for them too!

Sydney was ecstatic, as was Nigel, but he wanted leave as soon as possible as he couldn't help worrying about Sydney as, after all, she was carrying those two very precious babies and he, therefore, considered that the sooner they were back in Las Vegas, the better! He didn't say too much about his concerns, but Sydney noticed he was watching her like a hawk!

"Let's get back to the hotel and arrange for a doctor to look at your arm honey" Sydney said, trying to make him see that she was just fine and far more worried about him. "While you're with the doctor Nige I'll ring the Heard Museum to arrange a full inspection of the site and they can take it from there."

"Yes Syd, if you must, but then you can get some food inside you and a good night's sleep!" Nigel said; picking up the last of piece of equipment and stuffing it into his bag, trying not to wince too much as his arm was beginning to throb.

It was very easy for them to find the way out of the cavern and in less than a couple of hours they were back in Las Vegas, where Nigel got his arm attended to and then put the photographs onto the computer.

Sydney, at Nigel's insistence, allowed him to attend to the legal paperwork while she discussed the relics with the curator of the Heard Museum. Once that was complete, which took a couple of days, they went back to Trinity with several pieces of pottery that the museum had donated to the college; there being numerous items of a similar nature in the cavern. The college were, once again, delighted to be the recipients of such amazing artefacts which, of course, proved how right they were not to allow the two relic hunting teachers to go elsewhere to work!

Nigel had never been so happy in all of his life. He'd had such a difficult past but now everything was going right for a change. He was simply thrilled at the idea of being a father and having helped with Nigella so much, he was not overly daunted by the fact that Sydney was expecting, except that it was twins this time…. his twins!

He needn't have worried, as seven months later Sydney gave birth to two beautiful boys, one they called Jonathan, after Nigel's father and the other they named Randall, after Sydney's. Her father, along with Jenny, continued to give them support with the three children, who were all extremely happy, healthy and relatively well behaved.

Preston stayed in England and eventually married Cate who'd, quite early on, found she loved the English way of life and Interpol had soon become a distant memory. Although they didn't have any children together, Cate loved Nigella and enjoyed playing spy games with her and generally being in her company, as she was so intelligent and really quite delightful.

By the time Nigella was five, Preston began to finally trust himself to be alone with his daughter and they got along wonderfully. He was far more relaxed around Nigella than he'd ever been with Nigel, when he was a child, and eventually, when his daughter was invited to go to Oxford University, at the age of 15, she moved in with him and Cate.

Once Nigella moved to England to study, Sydney, who knew all about Nigel's life at Oxford University, insisted she lived with her father and not with strangers; like Nigel was forced to do when he went there at the same age. Lucky for Nigel, he grew to love the Ballys' who looked after him, but Sydney was taking no chances with Nigella.

Of course, during the holidays they all moved back to the London house, which Louisa had continued to look after until her sad death in 2022. After that they just hired someone to go in and make the house presentable, each time they returned. Sydney, Nigel and the twins visited as often as possible while Nigella was studying as they, obviously, missed her very much; although once Louisa had passed on Nigel found visiting the house quite a sad experience and it was a few years before he could go into Louisa's old bedroom.

As the years went on Nigel became a professor, something he'd always wanted; but not only that, he became a famous relic hunter, in his own right, too. This occurred because Sydney, unfortunately, had to forego a lot of hunts when she developed arthritis; probably caused by the constant pounding she gave her body when she fought off rival relic hunters over the years. After that point she went to great lengths to persuade Nigel to continue, which he reluctantly did, having realised just how much that meant to her.

To ensure that Nigel was not completely alone on those hunts, Sydney employed a martial arts expert, Bruce Penfold, who knew enough about ancient history to be of assistance to Nigel, although he'd never been relic hunting before. The most important thing was that he was able to protect Nigel on the occasions it was needed and carry his laptop and other items which previously Nigel had to carry.

Nigel was very fortunate with the information he received regarding various lost relics, especially when he got word from the Vatican that they wanted him to try locate a three foot high solid gold crucifix that they believed existed, but had never been able to find. The clues they provided needed to be looked at with a relic hunter's eyes, which was completely different to the way they'd looked at them. Nigel, with his years of experience, was soon able to interpret the clues correctly and found the cross, which was eventually placed in the Vatican Museum, along with several gold plaques and three candle holders that he'd found at the same time.

Nigel was not prepared for the fame that followed that discovery, although he still handled the worldwide television exposure very well, with a little help from Sydney.

Because of his amazing finds and because he'd been seen so much on television, he was approached by several publishing houses who wanted him to write his autobiography. Even though one publisher offered him four million dollars, Nigel wasn't keen to be an author of a book, although he'd written many papers that had been published. Eventually, at the age of 50; although in truth he was only 47, he gave in to the pressure and wrote his life story. Once published, his book entitled 'Nigel from the Beginning' became a number one best seller, although it upset Nigella, Jonathan and Randall somewhat, as they were horrified by what he'd gone through during his early life, although Nigel was very careful not to make Preston the villain!

Nigel stayed at Trinity College and worked alongside Sydney, until she retired at the age of 61. After that he stayed on and his students adored him, as he'd become such a wonderful teacher who, even in his early fifties, was still very handsome and youthful, which ensured his classes were always full, particularly with females! Obviously, he was never able to explain that he was, in fact, three years younger than everyone, except Sydney, thought!

Once Sydney had given up teaching she felt the need to do something creative and, with the help of Nigel, began to write fictional adventure stories for teenagers. She called her books 'Relic Hunter', giving each one a secondary title that described a little about the story; much like the Harry Potter books had many years before. Sydney, obviously, based her main characters on herself and Nigel, using numerous situations they'd found themselves in over the years to make the stories exciting for boys and girls alike.

Sydney and Nigel's twin boys, who were identical and the image of Nigel, were just as intelligent as their father yet, despite that, they were permitted to take part in a variety of sporting activities and attend acting, singing and painting classes; all of which they loved and were exceptionally good at. Both of their parents, but especially Nigel, wanted them to enjoy their childhood and spend as much time as possible having fun with their many friends; although they insisted they study hard too. Nigel, obviously, felt this way because he'd so often sacrificed his artistic side when he was at school; as he'd so many other classes to attend.

By the time they were 19 they'd already been at Yale University for a couple of years and between them had obtained degrees in science, mathematics, physics and computer science. Naturally they went on to gain further degrees, including various master degrees in a variety of subjects. Sydney and Nigel were delighted by the way their sons turned out and by the fact that they'd always been such happy boys; quite unlike Nigel had been as a teenager!

Nigella left university at the age of 22 having gained many degrees in the areas of science and engineering, and several master degrees in similar subjects, along with physics, computing and environmental studies.

By the time Nigella was 26 she was considered one of the brightest young minds in the world and had started working for Nasa Space Centre. The twins, who'd been highly influenced by their sister, began working alongside her and, in fact, they helped her design a propulsion system, which would enable a space ship to travel many times faster than the speed of light! She also designed a prototype space ship that used that propulsion system, although that was, unfortunately, not built in her lifetime.

Nigella, along with Jonathan and Randall, achieved everything the crew of the Enterprise needed for their futures to be secure and Sydney, Nigel and Preston were so proud of them, especially when Nigella was given a Technological Innovation award. Nigella, being the wonderful caring young lady that she was, acknowledged, when giving her acceptance speech, the assistance of her brothers and everyone else who'd helped her, including her mother, father, Cate and, of course, her uncle Nigel.

Jonathan and Randall received awards of a similar nature too and also recognised the encouragement and assistance they received from their sister, parents and uncle Preston.

Unfortunately Nigella died at quite a young age when she was in a car crash, the day after she'd received her third Technological Innovation Award. Had Sydney and Nigel been looking backwards, instead of at the stage, when the award presentation took place, they'd have seen William Ryker standing there, looking quite unhappy, as he knew what was about to occur. However, he was unable to prevent that tragedy, as it occurred in the correct timeline, and stopping the accident would have caused the timeline to go off track once again!

The loss of Nigella was extremely hard to bear for the entire Bailey family; however, her name, and later on, the names of Jonathan and Randall, went down in history as the three people who made the first steps in warp speed technology, something that would eventually be used on all Starships in the future.

It was seven years after Nigella's untimely death that a memorial was placed near the spot where she was killed. Sydney, Nigel, the twins, Cate and of course, her father Preston, were there at the unveiling, as was Jenny; Randal senior having passed on just four years before. However, as they sat their gazing at the beautiful statue of Nigella, Sydney and Nigel held each other close and smiled, realising that what Captain Jean Luc Picard had revealed to them, all those years ago, had proved to be correct, as Nigella Bailey really had become 'a very important young lady'.

_**(I do realise that in some Star Trek episodes they mention other people being the first ones to make advances in warp technology, however, for the purposes of this story, my characters did – so there!)**_

**I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS STORY, IF YOU DID; ****PLEASE REVIEW.**** I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I WILL ALWAYS APPRECIATE A KIND REVIEW, EVEN IF IT'S BEEN YEARS SINCE I PUT THIS STORY HERE. I ALLOW REVIEWS FROM PEOPLE NOT REGISTERED WITH FANFICTION.**

**I wish to thank ****Abducted By Eon Of Chronia****; cellyLS; Samantha Kyle; ivoryrose75; Steph1992; Space-Case7029 and ****Debasmita Sinha for your lovely and sometime extremely comical reviews. I really appreciate your kindness and the encouragement you gave me when I felt so disheartened about this story. **


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